Exploring Oceanic Dimensions: Rethinking Materiality and Automation in Deep-Sea Mining

Abstract Mining companies are increasingly embracing oceanic mineral extraction, driving the development and adoption of automated technologies. Emphasizing the need for conceptual displacement and amphibious ethnography, this article takes an ocean-centric approach to deep-sea mining ( dsm ) to explore how mining operations “get wet.” It is organized into three sections that analyze the techno-scientific narratives surrounding dsm , focusing on the intricate connections between extraction processes and automation technologies. The ocean is examined as an object of study, as an active agent, and finally as an analytical lens for ethnographic inquiry. Proposing a relational, materialist, and volumetric approach to studying the unique assemblages of dsm , the aim of the paper is to blur rigid distinctions between wild and domestic, natural and cultural, robot and human, immersion and separation, moving beyond the alarmist or utopian views often associated with the shift towards automation.