1 Universiti Brunei Darussalam WORKSHOP Reframing the South China Sea: Towards a Mediterranean Understanding of Culture and Resources 11-13Nov 2013 DRAFT Conceptions of Maritime Space: A Cultural Perspective on the South China Sea Hans-Dieter Evers Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam Abstract The South China Sea has attracted considerable attention among politicians, journalists and scholars since it has become a contested maritime space. Most work concentrates on conflicts and negotiations to resolve the ensuing issues. In this paper a cultural theory will be applied to stress the importance of conceptions of space found in different cultures. The South China Sea is defined as ŵediteƌƌaŶeaŶ. BLJ ĐoŵpaƌiŶg it to otheƌ ŵaƌitiŵe spaĐes, like the Baltic and the MediteƌƌaŶeaŶ “ea, lessoŶs ǁill ďe dƌaǁŶ fƌoŵ the loŶgue duƌée of histoƌLJ, as aŶalLJsed ďLJ French historian Fernand Braudel and from concepts of the cultural theory of Oswald Spengler. The paper will look at the South China Sea from three perspectives. The political science perspective will discuss various events that have happened due to political tensions because of territorial demarcations, fishing rights and access to natural resources. The second approach will take a broad comparative histoƌiĐal ǀieǁ, ĐoŵpaƌiŶg thƌee ŵediteƌƌaŶeaŶ seas. I shall aƌgue that Mediterranean seas share certain properties that give rise to tensions and even armed conflict, but also solutions to its problems. The third perspective uses macro-sociology and cultural anthropology to classify and understand actions of the general population as well as political leaders when they ascertain property rights to mediterranean seas.