Surfing - Overthink

Hang loose! In episode 149 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about all things surfing. They explore the long history of wave-riding across the globe, from Peru to West Africa, and consider how surfing helps us to reimagine social issues and what surfing reveals about the connection between flow and freedom. Is surfing the pinnacle of human life? How has the sportification of surfing directly contravened surfing’s anti-capitalist ethos? Why is the average surfer an image of white masculinity? And how is this image tied to indigenous erasure? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss the similarities between surfing and skating, surfing as an art, and the existential risk of surfing.Works DiscussedDaniel Brennan, Surfing and the Philosophy of SportKevin Dawson, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African DiasporaWilliam Finnegan, Barbarian Days: A Surfing LifeAaron James, Surfing with Sartre: An Aqua...