Sci-Tech Asia Webinar
A Bypass is Cheating!: Community, Expert Knowledge, and the Secret Politics of Water Pollution in Contemporary Japan
Webinar Description
This talk will present two cases from Japan in which communities use, shape and sometimes reject water-related scientific knowledge during campaigns against nonpoint source pollution. The first case involves salmon fishers whose opposition to state-sponsored river engineering projects confirmed theories of riparian ecology. The second case involves a children-designed waterway that exposed a public secret about sewage, stormwater runoffs, and eutrophication in urban waters. Based on ethnographic and archival research, the cases point to the contested meaning of water as an object of scientific investigation and technocratic control.
Speaker
Takehiro Watanabe (Sophia University, Tokyo)
Takehiro Watanabe is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. His research focuses on the anthropology of environmental issues, ranging from mining pollution, fisheries, river management, and urban ecology, with a focus primarily on Japan.
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Sci-Tech Asia Webinar Series
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