Yemaya Recommends: The Island of sea women

Gupta, Vishakha (2022) Yemaya Recommends: The Island of sea women. Yemaya (65). p. 26. ISSN 0973-1156

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Abstract

“Every woman who enters the sea, carries a coffin on her back. In this undersea world we tow the burdens of a hard life. We are crossing between life and death every day.” Sun-Sil, Chief Haenyo of the diving collective in Hado, Jeju, speaks these words while preparing Young-Sook and her diving partner Mi-Ja as they take their first dive as Hagun(baby divers) with their collective. These traditional words uttered before dives, foreshadow and echo sorrowfully through the novel The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See; whose latest novel explores the world of haenyeo, the women free divers of Jeju Island. Armed with their training, which begins in girlhood, and supported by their collective these women free dive up to 30 metres, even in freezing waters of 1°C (even through pregnancy and childbirth!) to fish for sea urchins, shellfish, abalone, sea grasses and octopus.

Item Type:	Articles
Class Number:	920.YEM588
Keywords:	Yemaya, ICSF, Women, Divers, Jeju Island, Training, Sea Urchins, Shellfish, Abalone, Sea Grasses, Octopus, Yemaya Recommends
Subjects:	Gender in Fisheries and Aquaculture
Depositing User:	Jeeva ICSF Rajan
Date Deposited:	02 Jun 2022 11:33
Last Modified:	02 Jun 2022 11:33
URI:	http://icsfarchives.net/id/eprint/16912

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