149. Surfing (extended)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com Thanks for bearing with us as we got this episode to you all, hope you enjoy it! Hang loose! In episode 149 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about all things surfing. They explore the long history of wave-riding across the globe, from Peru to West Africa, and consider how surfing helps us to reimagine social issues and what surfing reveals about the connection between flow and freedom. Is surfing the pinnacle of human life? How has the sportification of surfing directly contravened surfing’s anti-capitalist ethos? Why is the average surfer an image of white masculinity? And how is this image tied to indigenous erasure? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss the similarities between surfing and skating, surfing as an art, and the existential risk of surfing. Go to Rula.com/overthink for convenient therapy that’s covered by insurance. Works Discussed: Daniel Brennan, Surfing and the Philosophy of Sport Kevin Dawson, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora William Finnegan, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life Aaron James, Surfing with Sartre: An Aquatic Inquiry Into a Life of Meaning Peter Kreeft, I Surf, Therefore I Am: A Philosophy of Surfing Aileen Moreton Robinson, “Bodies That Matter: Performing White Possession on the Beach” Peter J. Westwick and Peter Neushul, The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing Wade in the Water: A Journey Into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture (2023) Highlight: Indigenous Roots of Surfing * Several indigenous cultures that have been surfing long before the modern surfing we know today * E.g. Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Australian indigenous * For Hawaiians in particular, historians Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul discuss surfing’s social dimensions * Surfing was a way to publicly display personal strength and leadership skills for Hawaiian chiefs * While chiefs often had a lot of leisure time to surf, surfing was also common across the community, including women * Ellie and David also discuss Captain James Cook’s colonial perspective of surfing in Hawaii in the 1770s, surfing in West Africa, and how the image of the stereotypical white, blonde, male surfer symbolizes the white colonization of surfing and even access to beaches More on surfing in Indigenous cultures: * “The Kuleana Way: Surfing as Indigenous Hawaiian Resistance” by Jackson Beall * “The Little-Known Black History of Surfing” by Mia Harris * “Paris Olympics bring French neo-colonialism to forefront” by Karim Zidan for Sports Politika