Aquaculture Through the Ages

Explore shorelines and understand how working waterfronts have shaped this place we call Maine over centuries of culture and labor Join Us for the first in a series of discussions around the history of working waterfronts in this place we call Maine from different cultural perspectives. Avner Goldstein is a historian whose research investigates the long environmental history of humans' relationships with their coasts and the sea. As sea levels continue to rise and coastal communities face new crises brought about by climate change, Goldstein documents how shoreline ecologies have been woven into human societies and cultures for millennia. He is currently writing a book on the history of the American oyster, showing how a seemingly unordinary marine invertebrate contributed to the making of the United States over the course of its history and was used to address its complex social and environmental problems. His other book shows how British coasts were reshaped in the Roman Empire, and how these coasts, including their fish, seaweed, and minerals, in turn helped make a new provincial way of being Roman. As an historian interested in these past environmental entanglements, Avner Goldstein has shown the importance of working across disciplines and of seeing our precious ocean as a serious historical place that will also shape our future. He has worked toward degrees at Princeton and Boston College and lives in Massachusetts, where he has taught environmental history at multiple universities. Come join us and then enjoy oysters across the street at the Freeport Oyster Bar for continuing conversations!