Environmental Exchanges Seminar: Clark Alejandrino
This semester, the Centre for Environmental History's Environmental Exchanges seminar series will include four fantastic papers from a diverse group of historians on the theme 'climate'. All seminars will be held both in person, and online (Zoom links will be provided closer to the date via Eventbrite).
The second Environmental Exchanges seminar of 2023 will be the following paper from Clark Alejandrino:
When the female Typhoon Mother transformed into a male Wind God: a high-resolution history of typhoons in Qing China
Preliminary reconstructions of historical typhoon landfall data for Qing China reveal that there was an uptick in storms landing on the southern coast during the brief but consequential Yongzheng emperor's reign (1722-1735). The increase in storm frequency produced a small ritual back-and-forth between the emperor in Beijing, looking to promote the worship of his imperially-sponsored Wind God, and villagers from a remote peninsula looking to promote their local cult to a Typhoon Mother spirit. Not only does the history of this little typhoon drama reveal how imperial and local interests were negotiated in the context of a change in climate, it suggests ways we can move from paleoclimate data and low-resolution climate correlations to high-resolution climate histories.
Clark Alejandrino (BA Ateneo, MA USyd, PhD Georgetown) is Assistant Professor of History at Trinity College where he teaches Chinese, Pacific, and Environmental History. He is most interested in the environmental history of China, especially its climate and animal history. He is finishing a book on typhoons in the history of the south China coast.
When: 29 March, 12:30-1:45 (Canberra time)
Where: Room 5.72, RSSS Building, ANU & Online via Zoom
Zoom links for joining the event remotely will be circulated in the days ahead of the event. Ensure you register early to receive the link.
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