Abstract/Summary

This paper explores the long-term entanglements between people and sediment in the coastal community of Bude in Cornwall, United Kingdom, from the sixteenth century to the present day. Building on recent ontological analyses of sediment’s physical and social roles in coastal systems, I show how sediment is enacted in different ways – as a hazard, an agricultural resource, or a construction material – and demonstrate how these enactments conflict or cohere over time. By drawing on interviews, archival sources, and historic materials, the paper makes three main contributions to discussions about sediment and society. First, I reveal how human interventions and physical forces co-produce sedimentary regimes, or the social-material systems that govern sediment in specific contexts and moments in time. Second, I highlight how sediment’s power to shape human priorities stems not only from its movements and resting places but also from its granular composition and chemical properties. Third, I emphasise that coastal sedimentary regimes require continual intervention as, from one activity to the next, a different shoreline is being comprehended, managed, and manipulated.