No One’s Water: Trash Scuba Diving in Stockholm

In this first ethnographic chapter of Part II, we will learn more about the trash scuba divers—about their organization, way of working, sensorial experiences of diving in zero visibility water, and their quick growth in popularity among the general public. To explore these things the chapter provides a number of ethnographic examples from underwater, taking the reader along below the surface to explore what it is like to do trash diving in such dark murky waters among toxic and possibly sharp waste. The role of the rope pullers—those working from land—will also be explained, and their importance emphasized. Also, the importance of technology will be illustrated, along with an argument that scuba divers can be seen and analyzed as cyborgs. Moreover, we will learn about levels of toxicity in the waters around Stockholm, thresholds of pollution, and ideas about how water can(not) hide and dilute pollutants and waste for human societies.