Toward an Upgrade of Gaia-politics: A View from the East Asian Critical Zone

Abstract

Although Bruno Latour had limited interaction with East Asia, translations of his work contributed to the development of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in that part of the world. More recently, Latour’s curation of the Taipei Biennial with STS participation offered a stimulating path for what he framed as Gaia-politics: a reset of modern geopolitics and territories centered on the climate emergency and ecological/terrestrial attachments. The exhibition’s locus in Taiwan was an important element in this, through its position as a hot spot of the Critical Zone—that thin layer of the Earth most sensitive to climate change. Latour’s approach to political ecology has, however, been criticized for a lack of attention to the role of capitalism in what led to the current climate upheaval. While we partly agree with this criticism, we are more concerned that the current version of Gaia-politics neglects the importance of nation-states and traditional sovereignties in handling the climate emergency. We argue that an upgrade of Gaia-politics is required to also address the resurgence of aggressive authoritarian regimes as well as the double threat of climate “wars” and traditional warfare.