Making Algae (In-)Visible: Tourism, Responsibility and Governance in the Caribbean
Final Report Abstract
The project studied the social, ecological, and political impacts of recurring Sargassum algae influxes in the Caribbean, situating them within broader transformations of coastal environments in the Anthropocene. Although fieldwork was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and violence-associated travel restrictions, the project was successfully carried out through long-term collaborations with researchers in Mexico and Barbados, having demonstrated the need and benefits of methodological flexibility within ethnography. The project resulted in multiple peerreviewed publications, co-authored studies, and interdisciplinary as well as public outreach. It has contributed meaningfully to three areas of anthropological and environmental research: (1) The project advanced understanding of how the global tourism industry shapes environmental governance and (in-)visibility practices. It examined how Sargassum influxes disrupt coastal economies while revealing inequalities in infrastructure and cleanup capacity. Practices of rendering the algae visible and invisible were shown to be central to how environmental crises are managed and perceived, demonstrating that tourism both exacerbates ecological degradation and drives selective environmental care, often privileging high-end tourist areas over marginalized coastal communities. These findings contribute to tourism studies and environmental justice debates. (2) In addition, the project explored how responsibility for coastal change is negotiated among scientists, hoteliers, government actors, and non-human agents such as algae, turtles, and seagrasses. It contributed to anthropological debates on responsibilization by analyzing how notions of care and blame are unevenly distributed and strategically mobilized. Key publications provide innovative insights into emergent coastal ethics and the multispecies entanglements shaping conservation practices. (3) Finally, the project engaged with debates on environmental governance in postcolonial coastal contexts, highlighting how imaginaries of tourist paradise inform responses to ecological disruption, often prioritizing image restoration over long-term sustainability. Research outputs emphasized the need to view governance not as top-down regulation, but as situated practice shaped by human–nonhuman relations, infrastructural inequalities, and the legacy of colonial extraction. In addition, the project showed how the Sargassum crises also generate “algae openings”—new opportunities for local environmental initiatives and alternative conservation practices. In sum, the project contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how marine ecological disturbances are experienced, interpreted, and governed in a context of intersecting crises—ecological, economic, and political. It advances debates in environmental anthropology, STS, and tourism studies, and offers grounded insights into future coasts.
Publications
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“It’s all about the beaches”: Sargassum algae, tourism, and coastal transformations along the Mexican Caribbean. Coastal Studies & Society, 2(4), 356-377.
McAdam-Otto, Laura K.
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La Cosecha. T’áalk’u’ Iknalítico: Omniausencias, Omnipresencias y Ubicuidades Mayas, 443-460. Astra Ediciones.
Otto, Laura
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Local ecological knowledge and perception of the causes, impacts and effects of Sargassum massive influxes: a binational approach. Ecosystems and People, 19(1).
Rosellón-Druker, Judith; McAdam-Otto, Laura; Suca, Justin J.; Seary, Rachel; Gaytán-Caballero, Adriana; Escobar-Briones, Elva; Hazen, Elliott L. & Muller-Karger, Frank
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Whose Beach Paradise? Tourism and the Governance of Sargassum Algae along Mexico’s Caribbean Coast. Cultural Analysis, 21(2), 11–34
Otto, Laura
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Algae Openings. Nature and Culture, 19(2), 161-183.
Otto, Laura & Rospert, Carly
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Praktiken und Prozesse der Responsibilisierung. Verantwortung aus kultur- und sozialanthropologischer Perspektive am Beispiel von Abfall, Flucht und Klimawandel. Zürcher Begegnungen, 139-158. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Otto, Laura; Streinzer, Andreas; Eitel, Kathrin & Liburkina, Ruzana
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Working seagrasses: emerging coastal ethics in the Mexican Caribbean. Maritime Studies, 23(1).
Otto, Laura
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Yo no se mañana. In: Eitel, Kathrin (ed.): Klimageschichten. Planet. Krise. Fiktion. Münster: edition assemblage
Otto, Laura
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Multi-Spezies Ethnographie. Handbuch Umweltethnologie, 163-184. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Otto, Laura & Fenske, Michaela
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The power of turtles: Entangled care in Akumal Bay, Mexico. Anthropology Today, 41(3), 23-25.
Otto, Laura
