Epistemic Mobilities: Following Sea-Level Change Adaptation Practices in Southeast Asian Cities

Abstract

A rich corpus of literature exists on traveling knowledges, their carriers, and connectivities. Yet there is less emphasis on how trajectories of mobility themselves, and the knowledges that circulate coevolve in the process of travel. In this article, we propose “epistemic mobilities” as a conceptual lens with which to empirically trace the transfer and translation of knowledges and practices as they come to be embedded in existing and new social realities. We draw inspiration from technological and policy interventions for living with sea-level change across two cases studies on Jakarta and Manila, and ask how these policies and practices constantly morph when being translated into specific sociopolitical and ecological contexts. We argue that the translocal transforming of adaptation practices and policies, within their contexts of arrival and negotiation, are key to conceptualizing “epistemic mobilities” via local systems and processes of socioinstitutional change.