Project Details
Projekt
Epistemic Mobilities and the Governance of Environmental Risks in Island Southeast Asia
Subject Area
Empirical Social Research
Asian Studies
Asian Studies
Term
from 2016 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 313849089
Coasts and their concomitant shoreline settlements have featured throughout premodern history until the present, as crossroads of diverse cultural flows, and as host sites where civilisations have taken root and expanded. Historically, societies with high degrees of geographic mobility have been more inclined to push for innovation and transformative change, as imaginaries, lifestyles and diverse stocks of knowledge travel across spatial and socio-cultural boundaries. We refer to these as epistemic mobilities. Yet, the increasing overpopulation of coastal spaces, particularly large urban settlements, make them intensely risk-prone to environmental, health and social catalysms, while remaining as contested sites of socio-political flux. The here proposed project therefore aims at assessing the patterns of epistemic (im-)mobilities related to sea level rise in and between the cities of Singapore, Jakarta and Manila by studying how (a) significant mobile policies and government programmes (dispositifs), as well as (b) (standardised) practices of change adaptation are communicated by donor and civil society organisations, and are politically legitimised, (re-)interpreted, translated and at times re-circulated, in ways that enable or hinder localised anticipatory learning trajectories in the face of projected sea level rise. The focus lies on how travelling policies (i.e. flood management plans) and practices (i.e. construction of seawalls) structure trans-local social learning for change adaptation, and further guides action towards the implementation of risk governance in and between the three cities. The project differs from recent research on risk, resilience and coastal adaptation in three ways. First, while placing the concept of epistemic mobilities at the heart of its inquiry, the project illustrates the urgency of studying the movement, circulation and localised translation of policies and practices, in order to more comprehensively understand how adaptive capacities are inherently shaped through less visible and understudied mobilities. Second, the study advances a range of follow the moving target-methodologies for further application in the study of global and local climate governance regimes. Third, the project develops an empirically-guided mid-range concept on epistemic mobilities with a focus on deepening further research on meaning construction and social learning that underpin societal adaptation capacities. The collaborate component of the project will be further strengthened through long-standing research partnerships and exchanges with three local universities in Singapore, Jakarta and Manila, and further stands in discussion with four proposed project teams of Work Program C.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
International Connection
Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore
Cooperation Partners
Professor Dr. Kelvin E.Y. Low; Dr. Hendricus Andy Simarmata; Dr. Elizabeth Urgel
