Weather, Science, and the Environment in Colonial Malaya

A Fresh Perspective on the Story of Colonial-era Science and Environment in Malaysia and Singapore. Imperial Meteorology explores the interplay of environment, weather science and colonialism in British Malaya. It looks at the colonial government's myriad, often imperfect, attempts to understand and control the uncontrollable climate and to manage the impacts of its extremes. Drawing from the history of science, especially the history of meteorology, and environmental history, Fiona Williamson uses weather as a lens into government sponsored meteorology and the strategies employed to mitigate extreme weather, be it flood, drought, or heat, through a tapestry of engineered and technological solutions. Central to this narrative is the recognition of the weather as an active agent, catalyzing scientific inquiry for colonial needs in the sphere of environmental governance. Moreover, it underscores how local circumstances influenced the application of global knowledge. This historical exploration into the realm of weather sciences and colonial responses to weather opens new conceptual vistas in the fields of environmental and scientific history. AUTHOR: Fiona Williamson is Associate Professor of Environmental History at the College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University. Her research interests fall at the intersection of environmental history and the history of (weather) science, extreme weather and disaster in colonial Malaya and Hong Kong. She has also worked for many years on researching and retrieving historic climate data for long-term climate modelling. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Co-President of the International Commission for the History of Meteorology (ICHM). 4 b/w illustrations