Research
Open to scholars and students across disciplines, Black Like Water combines historical inquiry, educational design, and community health research with active, participatory methodologies—including surfing, snorkeling, diving, sailing, skiing, and snowboarding—to illuminate human relationships to water environments and evaluate how physical immersion impacts individual and collective well-being.
Core Research Pillar Alignment
Maritime & Pacific Histories
Documenting and analyzing place-specific histories—such as Black Mariners of the Pacific—to expand public understanding of oceanic history, migration, maritime labor, and relationships to lands and waters over time.
Learning Sciences & Pedagogical Design
Utilizing initiatives like the Surf Dojo to research experiential learning, physical adaptability, resilience, skill acquisition, and changes in participation from learner to expert in dynamic natural environments.
Public Humanities & Curatorial Practice
Translating field and archival research into museum designs, public exhibitions, and educational curricula focused on global aquatic heritage.
Integrative Health & Well-Being
Examining the psychological, physiological, and restorative effects of water-based engagement through community-centered health frameworks
Narrative Inquiry
Investigating textual, oral, and imaginative representations of water—including historical archives, literary traditions, speculative fiction, cultural mythologies, and qualitative personal reflections—to understand how narrative shapes perceptions of liquid and frozen landscapes.
Embodied & Participatory Inquiry
Researching experiential, movement-based immersion in physical environments. Through activities like surfing, snorkeling, diving, sailing, skiing, and snowboarding, participants explore environmental literacy, somatic health, and physical resilience across diverse aquatic states (sea, river, snow, ice, rain, breath).
