Shiuh-shen Chien
National Taiwan University
『Movement, Society and Island-Weather-World: Masue as a case』
He received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is currently a Professor in the Department of Geography and the Graduate Program in Climate Change and Sustainable Development at National Taiwan University (NTU). His research interests broadly encompass the Global South and international cooperation and development, urban policy mobility and cross-border learning, the political economy of local and regional development, critical studies of ecological and smart cities, vertical and volumetric geographies, and the politics of climate engineering in the Anthropocene.
Dr. Tsien adopts a macro-level political economy approach in his research. His earlier work focused on urban transformation in post-socialist China, while his recent work has expanded to engage with broader issues of environmental sustainability. In the realm of abstract and conceptual thought, he has developed what he terms "volumetric thinking," a three-dimensional framework that emphasizes the relationship between humans and volumetric environments such as the atmosphere, the geosphere, and the ocean. Empirical case studies in this area include the operation of weather modification offices, the volumetric expansion of state sovereignty, and the elemental dimensions of urban underground infrastructure.
On the policy and practice front, Dr. Tsien’s work connects international development with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He explores new forms of international cooperation in Taiwan’s engagement with non-diplomatic partner countries, humanitarian assistance, NGO-led initiatives, and multilateral collaborations. He has conducted fieldwork in several of Taiwan’s former diplomatic allies, such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Eswatini, and Saint Lucia, as well as in non-diplomatic countries such as Jordan and Kyrgyzstan.
Dr. Tsien has received multiple academic performance awards from National Taiwan University. He is also the recipient of the 2010 Wu Ta-You Memorial Award from the National Science Council (for the field of Regional Studies and Geography), the 2013 Young Scholar Book Award from Academia Sinica (in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division), and the 2019 Outstanding Research Award from the Ministry of Science and Technology (also in Regional Studies and Geography). In addition, he has received NTU’s Excellent Teaching Award three times—in 2009 and 2013 for general science courses, and in 2019 for general education.
Abstract
In the wake of global warming, climate change has become the focus of both the humanities and natural sciences. There has been a wealth of research and discussion about the crisis of climate change in a long-term scale—such as energy transformation, low carbon economy, extreme crisis management, etc. However, what has not yet answered properly is weather-society relationship at the daily scale, and questions such as how human behavior is shaped by the dynamic atmosphere deserves more academic attention than it has received. This study is based on Matsu—a group of 36 islands and inlets located about an hour in the northeast of Taiwan. Under the context that connecting transportation among Matus islands and between Matsu and Taiwan mainly relies on airplanes and ferries, modern airports and sea harbors in Matsu unfortunately are often closed due to its unique weather conditions like heavy fog and strong winds. In such unexpected situations of airport and harbor closure, travelers in Matsu often feel upset but local Matus people feel relatively peaceful. We argue that Matsu people living in the island-weather-world are capable to develop its own embodied knowledge of weather-sensing and various ways of cross-island movement. This presentation makes contribution to enrich the understanding of island relationality, which is not only interconnectedness with the larger political economy system but also dynamic interplay between human experience and geo-physical forces.