[Sci-tech Asia virtual seminar] Money in the Anthropocene: An STS Perspective from Taiwan

Sci-tech Asia virtual seminar

Date: Thursday, 25 March

Time: 12:00-13:30 GMT

RVSP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBzxX4FbMbSagTw0DsngKYzc4UBbKxYhkgd_NEIK4B4bvskA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0B13Ti-xW52j_sf-7JvpjRoq64SVpLCMZBVlTiX37d0sOWVu-Zi1qsKnw

Money in the Anthropocene: An STS Perspective from Taiwan

The literature on environmental issues seldom addresses problems of money, but when it does, it tends to neglect its moral ambiguity and polysemy. The problem of money is a key issue if we are to find a solution for the man-made disaster of geological scale called the Anthropocene. Drawing on STS works on biocapitalism and the economization of life (Sunder Rajan 2006, Murphy 2017), the social economy of cancer (Lora-Wrainwright 2013, 2017) and the sociology of money (e.g. Zelizer), my research on two cases of industrial damage in Taiwan attempts to unravel problems of money in the areas of industrial damage, public health and the environment. I highlight how, for the victims, symbolic, moral and economic expectations are entangled, forging a web of motivations. Contrasting with the dominant views, I show that money does not always negatively affect mobilization. All depends on how the money is framed. 

Speaker's bio: Paul Jobin is Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica. Recent publications include “Our ‘good neighbor’ Formosa Plastics: petrochemical damage(s) and the meanings of money” (Environmental Sociology) and “The Valuation of Contaminated Life: RCA in Taiwan and the Compensation of Toxic Exposure” (East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal), and a collective book co-edited with Ming-sho Ho and Hsin-huang Michael Hsiao Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene forthcoming at ISEAS (Singapore).

Organizer: Sci-Tech Asia