ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the limits of the concepts ‘dialogue’ and ‘conversation’ through an analysis of conversations humans have about and with the North Sea. I compare conversations with animals to those we have with plants (notably seaweed), epistemologically and normatively, using a vegan ecofeminist lens to bring into conversation scholarship in critical animal and critical plant studies. I argue that plants and animals should have a right to speak about our common world, in the context of the sea. I also explore how we can engage differently with the sea itself, by looking at existing examples of humans who speak with the sea, and analyzing these using western and indigenous perspectives. Viewing interaction with the sea as a set of conversations can be of normative importance and change the attitude of humans. It also directs our view to how human language works and asks us to be attentive to the varied meanings that concepts can have in different situations. Learning to speak better with the sea also requires acknowledging that human agency is always part of a larger network of relations.
