Written by Eric Siu-kei Cheng.
Image credit: 魚塭收成 by 鵬智 Bird 賴 Lai/ Flickr, license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED.
An Interdisciplinary Field
Science and Technology Studies (hereafter: STS) is an interdisciplinary field and approach in social science that addresses how technology and society are co-produced, co-evolved, and interact. Broadly speaking, scholars from various disciplines can apply the concepts and theories in STS to their own research and teaching to examine the intermingled processes of technological and social changes. In recent years, Taiwanese STS scholars have actively engaged in the global STS community. It is noticeable that the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), the biggest STS community in the world, will co-organise its annual conference with the Taiwan STS association in Taiwan in 2027.
Academic Contributions: From Western to Eastern Taiwan
I am not an STS scholar by training, but I have been engaging in this field since 2017 at the time when I was studying how tilapia in Taiwan, or wukuoyu (吳郭魚), has become what we call Taiwan Tilapia (台灣鯛). My work addresses how aquaculture scientists and fish farmers conducted lab and field experiments to “make” export-oriented tilapia. The experiments, including the introduction of global tilapia species to Taiwanese aquaculture for new hybrids, provide the Taiwanese seafood sector with a globally marketable fish product. By researching and developing a tilapia product big and tasty enough for various countries’ fish fillet markets, the aquaculture stakeholders contribute to commercial aquaculture based in western Taiwan.
My journey with tilapia had not ended by the time I published my journal article. After I began teaching in Taitung, eastern Taiwan, I found myself enjoying tilapia raised in small fish ponds instilled with mountain spring water. The infamous tilapia’s muddy flavour, mostly found in western Taiwan, disappears here because the high-quality water flows and cemented fish ponds minimise tilapia’s interactions with bacteria and organic matter that may cause muddy flavour. Local folk science and appropriate technology (e.g., pipes connected from mountain springs to fish ponds) make high-quality tilapia that is hardly export-oriented due to its low production volume. Unlike residents in western Taiwan who treat tilapia as a low-value commodity, eastern Taiwan’s local market demands this fish, yet in high quality and relatively higher value. I find it is available for banquets, dining, and food sharing.
I share my tilapia journey to indicate research topics for STS are everywhere. In Taiwan, scholars use the lens of STS to frame their research on engineering, food science, pollution, mental health, agriculture, climate change, museums, etc. Originally from various disciplines, these scholars form an academic community to promote their individual and collective work. They provide critical insights to public policies and social activism. For example, some scholars organised and participated in a “negotiation theatre” at the Taipei Biennale 2020 to address contemporary environmental issues. By applying academic knowledge to enrich the quality of public communication, Taiwanese STS scholars consider themselves engaging in social issues and policy reforms. Keywording infrastructure, medicine, care, nature, and so on, STS in Taiwan has become an inclusive and innovative community welcoming scholars from various disciplines to join and contribute.
Mastering the Rhythm of STS: Conference Predictions
The Taiwan STS Association’s 2024 annual meeting will be held in Taitung City. Being the local host, I theme the conference with the concept of rhythm that illuminates the need for exploring time, temporality, and timing in STS. Taitung County has been regarded as “the backyard” and periphery of Taiwan, but it is actually a dynamic society embracing multi-ethnic cultures. While negotiating with the dominant national policy’s rhythm of growth and development, Taitung is exploring its own strategies to promote appropriate growth and sustainability. The conference will accommodate presentations and speeches that address topics of nature/culture, modern/traditional ecological knowledge, and continent/ocean. The conference welcomes participants to provide insights for the audience to reconsider whether we need binary thinking.
As the Call for Paper (CFP) announcement wrote, “the Taitung residents have increasingly adopted the practice and discourse of a slow economy and lifestyle to respond to the global political economy and neoliberal influences” in recent years. The conference let the participants experience this emerging rhythm through slow food enjoyment, Indigenous cultural exposure, and pre-conference field trips. Such events offer opportunities for participants to exchange ideas about the mainstream bipolar opposition between long/short distance, fast/slow pace, more/fewer resources, and big/small scale. They can also discuss how and why to “adapt, negotiate with, solve or tolerate the diverse rhythms of science, technology and society”, as suggested by the conference’s CFP. Presentations and roundtables at the conference will cover a wide variety of topics. They will explore the temporality of paradigm shifts in the history of science and temporality in various technologies, such as the discordant or mixed rhythms of energy policy and civil society; the multiple temporal logics of institutions, infrastructures, and transportation logistics; the (re)assembly processes of information technology, user experience design, and digital communication. Another key area of focus is multi-species coexistence, particularly looking at topics of multi-species co-habitation, technology, and spatiotemporal scales in Satoyama and Satoumi, as well as the politics of expiration in food preservation, spoilage, and fermentation. Additionally, discussions will also extend to spatiotemporal scales and ethnic interaction in the creative practices of performance, art, literature, and music.
One can enlist over 100 useful references based on the rich research outcomes of Taiwanese STS scholars, who contribute fruitful academic works to the Taiwanese Journal for Studies of Science, Technology and Medicine (《科技、醫療與社會》) and East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (《東亞科技與社會研究國際期刊》). The annual conference taking place in Taitung encourages scholars to be even more inclusive when exploring research issues and considering alternative explanations of Western scientific approaches. We emphasise local knowledge, more-than-human perspective, multiplicity, and mixed rhythms. Contingency, disorder, and uncertainty were some of the keywords when we were discussing rhythm. Adaptation, negotiation, challenge, or tension are the other concepts and practices that we may experience or expect in research and daily life.
Taitung is, therefore, a source of inspiration for more diverse approaches, frameworks, and visions of STS. Conference participants can learn from various ethnic groups, governance processes, and collaborative project networks that emerged in Taitung. They can exchange critical perspectives and practical experiences with different people while joining the meeting. Slow food events offer opportunities for participants to exchange ideas in a relaxing, eco-friendly, and tasty food enjoyment atmosphere. We highlight the need for appropriate technology that helps us minimise negative conference impacts on the environment and local communities.
Eric Siu-kei Cheng is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cultural Resources and Leisure Industries at National Taitung University. Email Address: chengsk@nttu.edu.tw
This article was published as part of a special issue on “Exploring Technology and Society in Taiwan.”
Taiwan Insight 