Beyond Living the Dream: Psychosocial Dimensions of Working in a Modern Aquarium

Written by a veteran aquarist reflecting on her lifelong career, this thesis explores the psychosocial dimensions of a poorly understood profession: the professional aquarist (fish caretaker) in a modern aquarium. Using a qualitative and psychoanalytically-informed methodology, Ms. Reynolds examines how aquarists at the Vancouver Aquarium navigate and negotiate any tensions, dilemmas and stressors they experience in their work, including public scrutiny of their occupation, the stressors and traumas inherent in caretaking work and the political, social and organizational challenges specific to the Vancouver Aquarium. Through interviews with five professional aquarists using the Dialogic, Relational Interview method, a thematic analysis illuminates the complexity of the work, including sources of resilience and the forms of defensiveness such as defense mechanisms and coping strategies the aquarists appear to employ to stay functional.