LOOK
WHEN YOU
An Over-Whale-Ming Business
When you look at this sphere of petrified whale bone, you see consumerism.
This sphere was found on the coast of California around 1940. While this particular whale most likely died of natural causes, it represents the history of humans monopolizing the hunting of whales for material profit. Indigenous people in America as well as the Japanese first practiced a conservative type of whaling that was based in tradition and emphasized the need to respect the sacrifice of the animal. The Europeans and American colonists practiced whaling for economic benefit and had a general disregard for the life given, and for the environmental effects of whale hunting. Most Europeans didn’t eat the whale meat and killed only for the oils and the bone. Anthropologists even described eating whale meat as the dietary distinction between industrialized and primitive societies. Indigenous groups like the Makah continue to fight for their traditional right to whaling, even after the ban placed by the International Whaling Commission.
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18th-Century Whaling
Whales have also influenced society through popular culture and their use in fashion. They have shown up in literature through Moby Dick and even the Leviathan from the Bible is thought to be a whale. They've been featured in movies like Free Willy and In the Heart of the Sea. Whale products like whale-bone corsets and umbrellas are also still very sought after in collector societies as well as high fashion.
Author: Mahailla Emele
