Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
The notion of Gaia-politics was introduced by Bruno Latour to challenge traditional approaches to sovereignty by taking more seriously the geo of geopolitics, that is to say its environmental dimension. The ongoing climate emergency is a national security threat for every country if the web of life on Earth, which humans depend on, is to be destroyed at current pace.
The Anthropocene implies a large range of man-made massive scale disasters, some of them sudden, but most are chronic, such as the impact of gases on global warming and the massive depletion of biodiversity caused by a combination of global warming, habitat loss, pesticides, antibiotics, plastics, etc. This situation looks very much like a war against other species.
This course will thus focus on conflicts between humans and non-humans, or what classical Chinese literature called “the ten thousands beings” (wanwu 萬物) which include humans, as well as plants (zhiwu 植物), animals (dongwu 動物) and all kinds of material things, such as stones, plastics and guns. The Chinese character wu 物 works for all these.
However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the growing military pressure that China puts on Taiwan are cruel reminders of how the appetite of imperial authoritarianism only adds fuel to the fire of global warming. How therefore can democracies vulnerable to authoritarian regimes address the twin challenges of the climate emergency and ensuring the protection of their sovereignty?
能力項目說明
Through a series of lectures given by social scientist (with anthropologists holding the lion share for anthropology has been pioneer to bring other species in social sciences), and class discussions on related readings, this class aims to challenge classical (mostly left-wing) views on political ecology and environmental sociology from the viewpoint of national defense issues, and vice versa, challenging the (rather right-wing) relative indifference to the climate emergency.
We will therefore look at problems such as how climate change affects the water cycle, the life cycle of plants and animals, corals, their importance for national security in terms of food and energy security, their meaning for national sovereignty, for instance in case of a military blockade.
But even more important, this class is about what you are ready to struggle for. Would you fight for the protection of other species such as Taiwan black bears, hemlock trees, butterflies, sea turtles, etc.? Would you be also ready to fight to protect your country from a foreign invasion? If not, why? Would you prefer to escape? But when, how and where to? Or if you to prefer to stay where you are and fight, what would you like to do, what training do you think you need?
I expect you to engage actively in class discussion, in particular with our guests who will give lecture or animate group discussion with me, and in particular for the special event of week 11 at the National 228 Memorial Museum.
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 - 14 Sept.
Introduction: Gaiapolitics
Compulsory reading:
Paul Jobin and Tzung-Wen Chen, “Upgrading Gaia-politics: An East-Asian Perspective,” Science, Technology, & Human Values 2023 (48-5). DOI: 10.1177/01622439231191602, Preprint: ResearchGate or Academia
Optional references:
Week 2 - 21 Sept.
From Gaya to Gaia-politics
Guest lecture:
Prof. Scott Simon (University of Ottawa)
Compulsory reading:
Optional references:
Week 3 - 28 Sept.
Taiwan in the Plasticene
Guests:
Dr. Erich Hellmer (Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica)
Tim Schütz (PhD Candidate, U.C. Irvine)
Compulsory reading:
Optional references:
Week 4 - 5 Oct.
Bees and Butterflies on the Frontline
Compulsory reading:
Optional reference:
Week 5 - 12 Oct.
Humananimals and "Water Clouds"
*Prepare a 500-word response to Prof. Jaclin
Compulsory reading:
Week 6 - 19 Oct.
"Black Bear" and Other Taiwan Civil Defense Organizations
Guest:
Prof. Liu Wen, (Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica)
Compulsory reading:
Optional references:
Week 7 - 26 Oct.
The Military in Practice
*Fieldtrip at Camp 66, including basic practice of air soft guns using eco-friendly bioplastic bullets
Optional reference:
Week 8 - 2 Nov.
*Presentation of final reports topics
You will deliver a 500-word abstract of the paper that you plan to present on Week 15 or 16, and present it orally with 2 or 3 slides.
Week 9 - 9 Nov. Class at 14-16 pm at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Nangang)
The Anthropology of Human-Animal Relations: a Leading Paradigm
Documentary movie on Philippe Descola.
Projection of documentary movie on Philippe Descola at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Nangang) followed by a discussion with Prof. Descola himself
Compulsory reading: (at least one of the two below):
Optional reference:
Week 10 - 16&17 Nov. (Class on Thursday and an additional event on Friday)
The Law Court for Future Generations and Other Species
*Friday 17 Nov. “The Law Court for Future Generations and Other Species” At the National 228 Memorial Museum
Compulsory reading:
The documents to prepare the Law Court will be provided several weeks before the event. This special event at the 228 is organized by Usbek & Rika and the French Embassy (Bureau Français de Taipei), with the participation of Prof. Descola among others, and yourself!
Optional reference:
Week 11 - 23 Nov.
The Pigs of Lanyu between Gaia- and Bio-politics
Guest lecture:
Rong-tai Chen (PhD Candidate at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris)
Compulsory reading:
Optional references:
Week 12 - 30 Nov.
Willing to Fight? Taiwanese Attitudes Toward War and National Defense
Guest lecture:
Dr. Josh Wenger (Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica)
Compulsory reading:
Optional references:
Week 13 - 7 Dec.
Sentinels, whistleblowers and diplomats. Techniques of preparedness for avian influenza pandemics
Guest lecture:
Prof. Frédéric Keck (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris)
Compulsory reading:
Optional reference:
Week 14 - 14 Dec.
Cross-strait Tensions as an Environmental Issue
Guest:
Ling-Tuan Linda Liu (Institute for National Defense and Security Research)
Compulsory reading:
Optional references:
Week 15 - 21 Dec.
Week 16 - 28 Dec.
*Paper presentations
You will deliver a 3000-word essay (academic format) and present it orally.
Participation (written notes and oral intervention): 50%
Abstract and Final Essay: 50%
Regarding class participation, the first requirement is to attend the class on time and be attentive. During the lecture, unless I invite you to do so (in particular during small group discussions), you will refrain from checking your mobile or computer. This is not only basic politeness for myself and our guest lecturers, but also for your own return on investment for spending high education fees. On the use of smartphones and other electronic devices, I basically agree with this view: https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together?language=zh-tw
Moreover, I understand that some students may be shy, but I will encourage you to go beyond your fear to engage actively in this class. Short written notes sent to me by email before the class will be helpful for this.
All the readings are already uploaded onto Moodle, except those which you can access online through NCCU's library.
The following two books (in Mandarin) are optional readings, you can buy them at a bookstore if interested:
菲利浦．德思寇拉，亞力山德羅．皮諾紀（Philippe Descola , Alessandro Pignocchi 著，宋剛譯），⟪將來世界民族誌⟫
洪文玲（編）《協商劇場」在北美館：藝術、科學與公眾參與的五場教學實驗》
Compulsory references:
Chan, Chia-lung (詹家龍). Lost Butterfly 消失的紫斑蝶directed by Narrated by Anpu (安浦) In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles (82-minute movie), 2023.
Chen, Rong-tai. “Conversion and Storage of values in the Conservation Practices of Lanyu Pigs,” paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 28 July 2023.
Descola, Philippe. “Beyond nature and culture Forms of attachment,” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 20212 (2-1): 447–471.
Descola, Philippe. Beyond nature and culture. University of Chicago Press. 2014. (the foreword by Marshall Sahlins, and the introduction)
Jaclin, David. “In the (bleary) eye of the tiger: An anthropological journey into jungle backyards,” Social Science Information 2013 (52-2): 257–271.
Jobin, Paul & Erich Hellmer, “Taiwan Plastics Industry Toward ‘Net Zero’,” paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 27 July 2023.
Jobin, Paul and Tzung-Wen Cheng, “Upgrading Gaia-politics: An East-Asian Perspective” (forthcoming in Science, Technology & Human Values).
Keck, Frederick. Avian reservoirs: virus hunters & birdwatchers in Chinese sentinel posts, Columbia University Press 2021.
Lee Kleinman, Daniel & Sainath Suryanarayanan, “Dying Bees and the Social Production of Ignorance,” Science, Technology, & Human Values 2013 (38:4): 492-517.
Liu, Ling-Tuan Linda. “Chapter 12: China’s Military Development of Alternative Energy,” 2021 Report on the Defense Technology Trend Assessment -Assessment of the New Generation of Chinese Communist Party’s Military Technology, 2022.06.07. https://indsr.org.tw/en/respubcationmenus?uid=16&resid=1893
Liu, Wen. “The Mundane Politics of War in Taiwan: Psychological Preparedness and Permanent War,” forthcoming in Security & Dialogue.
Parkinson, Stuart. “The carbon boot-print of the military,” Responsible Science 2020 (2). https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-08/SGR-RS02-Military-carbon-boot-print.pdf
Simon, Scott. “A Little Bird Told Me: Changing Human–Bird Relations on a Formosan Indigenous Territory,” Anthropologica 2020 (62): 70–84.
Wu, Charles K.S, Austin Horng-En Wang, and Fang-Yu Chen, “Public support for the use of force in non-Western and non-major powers: the case of a China–Taiwan war,” International Political Science Review, 2022: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433221099058
Optional references:
洪文玲（編）《協商劇場」在北美館：藝術、科學與公眾參與的五場教學實驗》，新竹：國立陽明交通大學出版社，2023。(Hong, Wen-Ling, ed. Theater of Negotiations at the Taipei Biennial 2020: Five Pedagogical Experiments of Arts, Technoscience and Public Engagement, Hsin-chu: National Yangming and Chiao-tung University Press, 2023.
劉翎端，〈第八章 軍用綠能〉，《2022國防科技趨勢評估報告》，國防安全研究院2022.12.30 https://indsr.org.tw/uploads/indsr/files/202301/54ebc434-4109-43bd-b0f9-dcea9cd858ae.pdf
菲利浦．德思寇拉，亞力山德羅．皮諾紀（Philippe Descola , Alessandro Pignocchi 著，宋剛譯），⟪將來世界民族誌⟫，無境文化出版，2023年8月。
Fan, Mei-Fang. “Tao People’s Fight for Environmental Justice and Subjectivity on Orchid Island,” Taiwan Insight, 2021/9/10. https://taiwaninsight.org/2021/09/10/tao-peoples-fight-for-environmental-justice-and-subjectivity-on-orchid-island/
Fan, Mei-Fang, “Nuclear waste facilities on Tribal Land: The Yami’s struggles for environmental justice,” Local Environment 2006 (11-4): 433-444.
Fortun, Kim, James Adams, Tim Schütz and Scott G. Knowles. (2021). Knowledge infrastructure and research agendas for quotidian anthropocenes: critical localism with planetary scope . Anthropocene Review.
Fu, Daiwei, et al. “2023 Taiwan Antiwar Statement”. https://positionspolitics.org/anti-war-petition-from-taiwan-academics/
Hioe, Brian. "Anti-war working group reproduces US-centrism of Western left, fails to consider multipolar world", The New Bloom, 03/24/2023.https://newbloommag.net/2023/03/24/anti-war-statement-response-eng/
Hiyama et al 2012. The biological impacts of the Fukushima nuclear accident on the pale grass blue butterfly. Nature (2): 570. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00570
Jobin, Paul. “Our ‘good neighbor’ Formosa Plastics: petrochemical damage(s) and the meanings of money,” Environmental Sociology 2021 (7-1), pp.40-53.
Jobin, Paul. “Environmental Movements in Taiwan’s Anthropocene: A Civic Eco-Nationalism,” in Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene (ed. by Paul Jobin, Ming-sho Ho and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Singapore: ISEAS), pp.37-78. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352283480_Environmental_movements_in_Taiwan's_anthropocene_a_civic_eco-nationalism
Kim, Elena. Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ. Duke U.P. 2022: The introduction. https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-1-4780-1835-3_601.pdf
Mah, Alice. Plastic Unlimited: How Corporations Are Fueling the Ecological Crisis and What We Can Do About It. Polity, 2022. ch.3 “The corporate alliance to (never) end plastic waste”.
Quartly, Jules. “Taiwanese Determined to Fight for Country, New Research Shows,” Taiwan News, Feb. 25 2023: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4821175
Simon, Scott. “Real People, Real Dogs, and Pigs for the Ancestors: The Moral Universe of “Domestication” in Indigenous Taiwan,” American Anthropologist 2015 (117-4): 693–709.
Simon, Scott. « Penser avec des oiseaux : L’ornithomancie et l’autochtonie à Taïwan », Anthropologie et Sociétés 2018 (42, 2-3): 151-169.
Simon, Scott. “What the Indo-Pacific Strategy means for Indigenous Peoples,” CIPS, December 2022. https://www.cips-cepi.ca/2022/12/08/what-the-indo-pacific-strategy-means-for-indigenous-peoples/
Simon, Scott. “The Indo-Pacific and Canada’s Entanglements across the Taiwan Strait,” CIPS working paper, March 2023. https://www.cips-cepi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CIPS-ASN-on-TW-in-IPS_FINAL-1.pdf
Simons, Margaret. “Taiwanese Flock to Civil Defense Training Ahead of Potential Chinese Invasion,” Foreign Affairs, 2022/12/19. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/12/19/taiwan-china-invasion-civil-defense-training/
Schütz, Tim. Visualizing Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics . (2021). ACM Interactions, Vol. 28(4), pp. 50–55.
Wang, Austin Horng-En and Nadia Eldemerdash, “National identity, willingness to fight, and collective action,” Journal of Peace Research 2022: 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343322109905
Wenger, Josh & Paul Jobin, “Asymmetric Warfare and Civil Defense in Taiwan,” paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 26 July 2023.
Wu, Wendy. “Taiwanese turtle expert urges people to consider ocean pollution,” Taiwan News, 2021/7/12. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4246308
| 書名 Book Title | 作者 Author | 出版年 Publish Year | 出版者 Publisher | ISBN | 館藏來源* | 備註 Note |
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