Experimenting with Aquatic Modernity: The Life History of Laminaria japonica in the West Pacific
This presentation examines the trans-East Asian cultivation of kelp (Laminaria japonica) as a significant raw material for iodine, nitrogen, and alginic acid in the history of modern China. By exploring the history of kelp mariculture within a transnational framework that includes Japan, the US, and China, Aijie’s research not only delineates kelp’s domestication within the natural and political environments of the West Pacific region but also challenges the mythologized narrative regarding techno-scientific achievements during the early period of China’s socialist construction in the 1950s.
Aijie Shi is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her dissertation research, entitled “Experimenting with Aquatic Productive: the Life History of Aquatic Science in modern China,” looks at the evolution of aquatic sciences in modern China through case studies including shark-liver oil production, seaweed domestication, and inland reservoir fisheries.
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