Contesting Relations of Definition: Climate Risk and Subpolitics in Singapore

Teo, Belicia; Amir, Sulfikar

doi:10.1080/23251042.2020.1865619

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Yet, dominant environmental discourses in Singapore are not passively internalised by the public. Instead, they are often engaged with, and negotiated, differently on the ground (e.g., Teo & Amir, 2021). Buddhists, in particular, often interpret and negotiate their understanding of these issues through a cosmological framework.…”

Section: Reimagining Human-ecology Relations Through Buddhist Cosmologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to land scarcity, Singapore's environmental management has long been a political endeavour. Green recovery visions have been driven by a decidedly techno‐deterministic ethos (Teo & Amir, 2021; Wong, 2012). This is an ethos where developmental and economic aspects of the environment are often prioritised at the expense of its other moral, affective and social dimensions (Kong & Yeoh, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When planetary cosmopolitanism meets the Buddhist ethic: Recycling, karma and popular ecology in Singapore

Shee,

Woods,

Kong

2023

Trans Inst British Geog

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By thinking with and through Buddhist cosmology, this paper explores the emergence of an ethical sensibility—what we call planetary cosmopolitanism—that is based on not just a spatially expanded ethic of care to ecological worlds, but also a temporally extended sense of justice to the future Earth. This transtemporal sense of ethical becoming reflects how the possibility of future ‘rebirth’ and accountability for past actions can motivate new ecological consciousness in the present. We forge these ideas through an empirical focus on popular Buddhist ecological practices in Singapore, where green recovery visions have primarily been driven by a secular and technocratic ethos. In negotiating the prevailing modernist ecological discourses, many Buddhists tap into an alternative imagining of cosmological time that regards Earth not simply as a place to be left behind at the end of one's life, but a permanent home for all future beings. This reading of human–ecology relations emphasises a causal responsibility to secure planetary well‐being, moving the making of cosmopolitan sensibilities from the realm of beneficence into justice. Yet, this renewed cosmopolitan sensibility to Earth is not simply a prescriptive ethical framework articulated on an abstract level, but materially performed and negotiated at the level of everyday life. Recycling becomes a site of rapprochement that allows Buddhists in Singapore to promote and negotiate their ecological consciousness within the strictures of the secular state. In doing so, it opens up new spaces of postcapitalist possibility that enable Buddhists, alongside people of other or no faith, to imagine alternative ways of inhabiting the planet. By developing an alternative account of cosmopolitanism grounded in Buddhist cosmology, we identify Buddhism as a decolonial lens through which we can critically reimagine human–ecology relations, and illuminate diverse modes and practices of ethical becoming in this age of ecological crisis.

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Section: Reimagining Human-ecology Relations Through Buddhist Cosmologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When planetary cosmopolitanism meets the Buddhist ethic: Recycling, karma and popular ecology in Singapore

Shee,

Woods,

Kong

2023

Trans Inst British Geog

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“…Different forms and sites of public resistance as subpolitics has attracted considerable STS scholarship (Buizer & Turnhout, 2011; Knight & Greenberg, 2002; Stevenson, 2012). Such studies have highlighted how public resistance movements driven by civil society have contested State's hegemony on scientific knowledge and expertise specifically in newer areas such as climate risk (Teo & Amir, 2021). Adopting a subpolitical lens also allows us to investigate subterranean political action which may be subsumed within the wider narrative of large-scale social action addressing nation building and collective identities (Junka-Aikio, 2012).…”

Section: Civic Actions As Subpoliticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Have a Digital Highway but also have speed limits”: Exploring Public Resistance to Cell Tower Radiation in India

Chowdhury

2022

Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society

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Public resistance to environmental and health safety risks from radiations emanating from cell phone towers has been sporadic but spatially and temporally widespread in India. Civic actions have been led by civic activists, resident welfare associations, gram panchayats, lawyers, scientists and even an actor from the Bombay film industry. Large scale technical systems like cell-phone towers are remarkably resilient to public criticism. Industry response to such resistance is usually in the form of aesthetic tinkering to hide structures from public gaze, incremental regulation and science communication to assuage public doubt. The legislature rather than Courts has been more responsive to such civic actions. Courts due to their overreliance on risk discourses have continued to defer to State experts. Faced with incrementalism from formal institutional actors, resistance movements have become localized and used site requirements to stymie such developments. Drawing on Beck's idea of subpolitics, this study explores the disaggregated nature of the resistance movement against cell tower radiation in India. It is based on a multi-sited ethnography based on field research and 35 interviews with activists, journalists, regulators, lawyers, industry representatives, doctors and scientists, conducted between November 2017 to December 2019. Jurisprudential developments, parliamentary committee and scientific reports were also reviewed. Subpolitics as a category has purchase in STS studies because it allows us to focus on the disaggregated nature of affected publics and interrogate public engagement with State institutions and new social expectations and solidarities with reference to technology.

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Cooling as social practice: Heat mitigation and the making of communal space in Jakarta's informal settlements

Salsabila,

Amir,

Nastiti

2023

Habitat International

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Contesting Relations of Definition: Climate Risk and Subpolitics in Singapore

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

When planetary cosmopolitanism meets the Buddhist ethic: Recycling, karma and popular ecology in Singapore

When planetary cosmopolitanism meets the Buddhist ethic: Recycling, karma and popular ecology in Singapore

“Have a Digital Highway but also have speed limits”: Exploring Public Resistance to Cell Tower Radiation in India

Cooling as social practice: Heat mitigation and the making of communal space in Jakarta's informal settlements

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