Territorial science: producing geoscientific knowledge and geopolitical order around the Korean peninsula

Abstract

How is the knowledge of our surroundings shaped by how we choose to govern them? This dissertation examines the entanglement of geoscientific knowledge and geopolitical order by proposing a new concept of territorial science. I define territorial science as state-led projects to measure, monitor, and model nature through which a political community governs its physical extent. Territorial science is a crucial governmental apparatus for modern states to declare geographical boundaries, claim exclusive rights, and generate territorial imaginaries. To further develop the concept, this dissertation analyzes how the knowledge of air, land, and ocean in and around the Korean peninsula is entangled with the geopolitical conflicts that characterize this region. The knowledge about border-crossing air is generated from South Korean projects to find China responsible for air pollution in Seoul. The geological mapping of the underground territory allows the state to utilize the nation’s bedrock as a nuclear waste container. The oceanographic surveys in East Asia are restricted by maritime conflicts that condition what scientists can and cannot ask about earthly processes. Together, the case studies on three environmental conflicts show that geoscientific knowledge and geopolitical order are co-produced.