The world is broken, and it’s o.k.
Social theorist Steven Jackson argues that our tendency to imagine life as a progress narrative, wherein innovation moves society constantly toward greater advancement and sophistication, masks the considerably more profound reality that, in actuality, things are always falling apart. The world, in other words, is broken, and in trying to repair it, we discover new possibilities for ourselves and for our future. In the end, that’s exactly what Broken World Boats is about: imagining new futures through repair and renewal.
Jackson also has a lot of interesting stuff to say about boats (ships, really) and their embeddedness in global economies. You can check it out here.
Who am I?
My name is Seth C. Bruggeman. I am a historian at Temple University, where I study memory and material culture.
But I am many other things as well: builder, sailor, tinkerer, flâneur, liminalist, student of architecture. Broken World Design is where I bring all of those interests into conversation.
[At right: Marine inboard engines at Anchors & Oars Sailboat Parts in Grasonville, MD.]
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