Shiuh-shen Chien

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. Likewise, as a result of the high frequency of extreme weather, critics have turned to island climate. So far, there has been only a few studies that focus on the local milieu as the basis of the sociology of island climate. 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 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 Matsu islanders feel relatively peaceful. We argue that Matsu people living in the island-weather-world are capable to develop their own embodied knowledge of weather-sensing and various ways of cross-island movement. This presentation would make a 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.