Alternative Title

Beyond tropicality: Heat and colonial weather science in the Straits Settlements c. 1820-1900

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

12-2022

Abstract

Historical explorations of tropical heat in a colonial context have largely focussed on two interconnected spheres: colonial perceptions of place and body or, the implications of heat on different bodies in medical thought and practice. This paper seeks to move the discussion towards a history of colonial scientific thought about heat as component of weather and of escalating nature-induced hazards, studied in the observatory or meteorological department. A central theme is to think about heat in its relationship to nascent meso-scale atmospheric knowledge, meteorological theory and, as a by-product of urbanisation and land-use change. In so doing, it conceptualises the scientific understanding of heat as essentially responsive, embodied within science as result of how heat was prioritised within a local context and in the contemporary understanding of human-induced climatic change. The paper works thus across the disciplinary boundaries of history of science and environmental history to highlight an underexplored aspect of the Straits Settlements’ past: the scientific history of urban heat.

Keywords

Heat, weather, urban heat, Straits Settlements, Malaya

Discipline

Asian Studies | History | Physical and Environmental Geography

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Volume

95

Issue

323

First Page

39

Last Page

55

ISSN

0126-7353

Identifier

10.1353/ras.2022.0017

Publisher

Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1353/ras.2022.0017

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