“Another ocean is possible”: thinking ocean justice beyond mastery

In recent years, scholars have employed the terms “marine justice”, “ocean justice,” “oceanic justice,” or “blue justice” to indicate a distinctly oceanic dimension of global justice. However, at present the term is used to refer to kindred yet different phenomena. In this article, we distinguish three influential approaches to ocean justice: (1) justice through the sea, (2) justice for the sea, and (3) justice at sea. Discussing these visions of ocean justice through the lens of critiques of colonial modernity, we argue that each still features traces of the logic of mastery. In response, we point to an alternative vision of ocean justice (justice from the sea), which decentres the masterful subject and offers an alternative vocabulary capable of reimagining issues of justice from below.