The Ocean: Common Heritage, Shared Challenges
What place does the ocean hold in our collective future?
Natália Frozel-Barros, sociologist specializing in environmental and international public policy within the framework of ocean governance (UPEC), and Jerry McManus, paleoceanographer and expert on the deep ocean and its role in abrupt climate change (Columbia University), will explore the intimate and fragile relationship that connects humanity to this vast marine expanse.
The discussion will be moderated by Salomé Montoriol, PhD candidate in the Department of French Literature, Thought, and Culture at New York University.
Natália Frozel-Barros
Natália Frozel-Barros holds a Ph.D in Political Science from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and is an alumnus of École Normale Supérieure in Paris and Universidade Estadual de Campinas at São Paulo. She is an Associate Professor in Political Science at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Fontainebleau and member of the Research Team LIPHA-UPEC. Her research focuses on international ocean governance and the making of international law with a special emphasis on deep seabed regulations. Her research explores through a socio-historical perspective how oceans regulation is continually reshaped by global challenges such as post-colonial, economic, and environmental justice claims. For her first book, she conducted fieldwork at the United Nations (NY) and in the central/federal administrations of Brazil, France and the United States.
Jerry McManus
Jerry McManus grew up in New York City and received a B.A, M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. (1997) in Earth Science from Columbia University. He is in the Geochemistry Division of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and is a Professor and was recently Chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Columbia University. As a paleoceanographer, he and his extensive research team primarily use deep-sea sediments to reconstruct natural variability in multiple aspects of the Earth’s ocean and climate system, including El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), oxygen utilization and carbon storage in the deep ocean, and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), with a special focus on the role that the ocean plays in abrupt climate change. Professor McManus has spent approximately a year of his life at sea.
Salomé Montoriol
Salomé Montoriol is a doctoral student in the Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture at New York University. Her research focuses on the intersections of Francophone literatures and visual arts, with a particular interest in the emerging field of Blue Humanities. After completing a hypokhâgne at Lycée Victor Hugo and khâgne at Lycée Fénelon, she earned a master’s in Anglophone Literatures and Cultures at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, graduating with highest honors. Her master's thesis explored representations of the sea in Anglophone Caribbean literatures. In 2024, Salomé's thesis was awarded the Prix du Master from the Society for the Study of Arts, Images and Texts (SAIT), which also published a summary of the research in the academic journal Polysèmes.
What Place Does the Ocean Have in Our Collective Future?
Attribution du Prix Mattei Dogan 2025
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