Wind, Water, and Risk: Shaping a Transnational History of the Western North Pacific. Issue 1 (9th December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bankoff, Greg
• Is Part Of: TRaNS. Volume 4:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 187
• Page End: 207
• Publication Date: 2015-12-09
• Subjects: Typhoons, -- disasters, -- transnational history, -- Pacific; Human geography -- Southeast Asia -- Periodicals; Anthropology -- Southeast Asia -- Periodicals; Southeast Asia -- Geography -- Periodicals; Southeast Asia -- Relations -- Periodicals; 959
• DOI: 10.1017/trn.2015.29
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2051-364X

Abstract

Abstract: The peoples who inhabit the states that lie in the direct paths of typhoons in the Western North Pacific share a common history of repeated dislocation, destruction, and death that delimits a zone of comparative enquiry and historiographical interest. The track left by typhoons across ocean and land perfectly outline the dimensions of a more transnational historical region encompassing the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the island states of Micronesia. The peoples of these lands are bound together by a common experience of risk. Wind and water together offer a radical alternative historiography to state-centred master narratives that are revealed by pursuing issues and questions that transcend the spatial and temporal boundaries of any one state or region.