Surrender to Dagaa : An ethnographic study of Fishing in Zanzibar

This thesis explores Zanzibari fishing practices and the fishermen’s relation to the ocean, within the context of the global political economy. The study focuses on catching small pelagic fish, locally known as dagaa, which has become vital for food security in Zanzibar. By combining anthropological theories of phenomenology and political economy, the thesis identifies capitalism and the need for cash as constituting a metabolic rift that alienates fishermen from the ocean, where the ocean is seen as more of an industrial landscape to earn a wage rather than a landscape to dwell with. The thesis further expands the analysis to discuss overexploitation in relation to the global economy with a worldview of unlimited goods.