GHOSTS AND MONSTERS OF THE VENICE LAGOON. Fishermen’s narratives on a changing environment

Abstract

This thesis aims at analyzing, from an ecocritical perspective, how local fishermen depict their relationship with non-human beings of the Venice Lagoon, and how they talk about changes, such as the increase in temperature and salinity, the spreading of alien species, the disappearance of autochthonous species, and loss of traditional knowledge. In fact, from their situated perspective, fishermen experience directly the environmental changes of their area and are carriers of local environmental knowledge (LEK). Thus, an environmental analysis of their narratives becomes relevant in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationships between human and non- human entities within the vulnerable and anthropogenically modified ecosystem of the Venice Lagoon.