ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how whale-watching in an Australian context is also geared to exploiting the broadly based susceptibility to whales, most especially through a richly embellished anthropomorphic discourse. Anthropologists and other social scientists frequently query or lament Western anthropomorphism, but its specific qualities are rarely detailed. It involves unpacking in some detail the speech acts of professional skippers and guides on whale-watch vessels. The chapter draws on the details of half-a-dozen day long trips, and it is appropriate to emphasize at the outset that each skipper’s individual performance also differs markedly on other counts from those of his peers and rivals. It briefly indicates some of the costs which result from the profoundly skewed way of talking about whales and other sea creatures. The chapter shows how the production of emotion in the course of whale-watching is achieved through the reverse discursive process precisely.
