Campus News
Dialogues, collaborations, and the success of ‘slow science’
With funding from the Henry Luce Foundation, the new Southeast Asian Coastal Interactions Initiative takes a methodical approach to worldwide social and environmental challenges
Established in 2019, the Southeast Asian Coastal Interactions Initiative, or SEACoast, has created a collaborative hub where social and natural scientists work together to tackle complex environmental problems.
“In this time of human-caused environmental challenges, we need to agree that human histories and nonhuman histories are part of the same set of research challenges,” says Anna Tsing, professor of anthropology, who is codirecting the center with Megan Thomas, associate professor of political science.
Since the SEACoast center was funded with a five-year $1 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, interest and participation in the center’s programming has been growing rapidly. Emphasizing “slow science,” which values deliberation, field observation, and historical inquiry over fast results, SEACoast has drawn academics from a broad spectrum of disciplines together to offer their expertise, learn from others, and synthesize new ideas for research.
For example, one of SEACoast’s projects explores the multifaceted phenomenon of harmful algal blooms. Caused by alterations in ocean nutrients, winds, temperatures, or a combination of these factors, algal blooms create toxic conditions that threaten the survival of various species in coastal waters. SEACoast’s work looks at the relationship between microscopic algal species and human populations.
Algae are primary producers—they float around in marine environments and get eaten by zooplankton and shellfish. They are building blocks of life. But they can also destroy life if they are toxic and reproduce in large quantities. These toxins work their way up the food chain onto our plates. Also, while photosynthetic algae species overgrow during daytime in the presence of light, in the dark, they produce massive amounts of deadly carbon dioxide. They can literally smother marine life in anoxic waters or waters with very low oxygen levels.
Looking at anthropological data and microbiological analysis is essential to understanding these environmental phenomena over time. For instance, water currents shape microalgal species populations and distributions. Fishing communities use the currents when building floating fish farms. Lower current speeds are preferred for fish farms, but this also means weak dispersal of algal biomass, which increases the likelihood of harmful algal bloom.
In the long run, SEACoast’s research on algal blooms has the potential to inform policymaking in terms of managing human activities in coastal waters and could determine the kind of environmental monitoring that would be necessary to keep both scientists and the public informed.
Building blocks of a new research hub
While UC Santa Cruz previously didn’t have a department focused on Southeast Asian studies, the campus is nevertheless particularly well equipped to offer unconventional contributions to the field. SEACoast is drawing on the university’s expertise and recognition in ocean science, social justice, and environmental studies, as well as its tradition of bridging departmental divides with a mindset for collaboration.
SEACoast has established its presence as an institution on campus and is quickly becoming a lively intellectual center, thriving on exactly what it set out to do: galvanize diverse academic experts interested in charting new territory. Reaching beyond institutional structures provides an opportunity for creatively thinking about human-caused environmental challenges.
For Tsing, one of the most exciting developments of SEACoast’s inaugural year has been facilitating the hiring of a new faculty member in UC Santa Cruz’s History Department. Kathleen Gutierrez is a scholar of Southeast Asian environmental history, and her research focuses on botanical collecting in the Philippines across colonial and post-colonial eras.
Tsing is thrilled with the positive reception at UC Santa Cruz and the rapid growth of the intellectual hub in producing promising international dialogues and collaborations. She has many plans for the center. She’s fundraising for scholarships and is in negotiations with Indonesian government agencies to include UC Santa Cruz among universities authorized to enroll Indonesian students in environmental sciences.
SEACoast continues to break open departmental discourse into collaborative discourse. Their research promises to improve the livelihood of Southeast Asian coastal communities by helping them preserve and rebuild diverse and vibrant ecological zones and manage sustainable food systems.
“If we are able to make even some small dents in how natural scientists, social scientists, humanists, and artists can work together, that would be extraordinary,“ Tsing says.