The sea is a foreign country : the temporal cosmos of a Maltese fishing vessel

Abstract

This is a study of time and temporality from the perspective of the crew of a Maltese fishing vessel. I will discuss the future, present, and past in terms of the physical and socio-cultural environment as individuals and crew. The exploration of the following temporal experiences is largely connected to the sea. Therefore this study serves as a discussion of the fishers' relations to the sea concerning time, the symbolic order of the future, present, and past. The conclusion to which is that differing temporal perceptions transform the sea into a space of otherness, that for the fishers the sea is a foreign country.