Inaugural Dr Ian Napier Memorial Lecture
Join staff from UHI Shetland, the UHI Centre for Sustainable Seafood, and the Shetland Fisherman’s Association to celebrate the late Dr Ian Napier’s legacy in the world of fisheries research and policy with a special free lecture.
Between Individual Autonomy and Collective Good: Roots of Social Justice in the Shetland Fishing Community with guest lecturer Dr. Demet Şahende Dinler.
Dr. Demet Şahende Dinler is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex. She holds a BSc in Political Science and Sociology from Middle East Technical University, Turkey and an MSc and PhD in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her research areas include anthropology of markets and prices; multi-sited ethnographies of commodities and supply chains (waste, cut flower and fisheries); alternative economic designs for social justice; community-led solutions to tackle global challenges and inequalities.
Dr Dinler will be discussing the consolidation of vessel ownership, fish quotas and vertical integration constitute an increasing tendency in the global fisheries, which makes it costly for young generations to pursue an independent fishing career. Shetland Islands deviates from this tendency: Young fishermen in the white fish industry are able to be equal shareholders in boats, get access to fish quotas and benefit from fairer fish prices. What explains the resilience of Shetland fisheries, which has been exposed to similar internal and external pressures as the rest of the global fishermen in the last three decades?
By weaving interdisciplinary insights from the comparative anthropology of markets and institutions and drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted on the Shetland Islands since July 2024, this lecture aims to give a preliminary answer to this question. It explores how the forward-looking island community and its private and public organisations developed a series of innovations, creative adjustments and negative feedback mechanisms while responding to changes from within the community, national regulations and global economy. The very innovative configuration of ownership, property and market relations in fisheries enabled both individuals and the collective to thrive together.
The lecture concludes by asking two questions: What are the lessons we can learn from Shetland to apply to other contexts? What are the creative capacities, resources and forms of knowledge can Shetland mobilise further at another critical period of history for the healthy future of their fishing economy and community?
There will be an opportunity for guests to discuss the lecture, and their memories of Ian, after the lecture with teas and coffees kindly donated by our friends at the Shetland Fisherman’s Association.
Tickets either to attend in person or online are available from the UHI Shetland Eventbrite page.