Towards a solid-fluid territory: Sand dredging, volumetric practices, and earthly elements

• Published in: Political geography Vol. 106; p. 102965
• Main Author: Wang, Chi-Mao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2023
• Subjects: Mobilities of entities; Ocean governance; Sand extraction; Territory; Volume; Territory; Sand extraction; Mobilities of entities; Volume; Ocean governance
• ISSN: 0962-6298; 1873-5096
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102965

Since 2020, although Taiwan has expelled dredgers and sand-transporting vessels from areas under its control, it has failed to stop sand loss. Marine researchers have noted that such issues problematise the ontology that underlies work on territory and ocean governance, wherein the ocean is regarded as a flat space that can be zoned and territorialised. Attention has thus shifted from considering the ocean as a flat terrestrial legal boundary to regarding it as a dynamic, volumetric entity, constantly shaped by the distinct qualities of the ocean and human endeavours. While such thought-provoking work offers crucial insight into our understanding of territory, its emphasis on the distinct qualities of water unconsciously reinforces the distinction between the land and the sea. Informed by recent materials-related social studies, this paper proposes the notion of the marine environment as a solid-fluid territory that foregrounds the importance of planetary dynamic geological processes. I argue that in this sense, territory is always involved in the governance of solid-fluid transitions in different voluminous contexts. The solid-fluid territory, I suggest, is characterised by three elements: solid-fluid transitions, resources, and volumetric practices. With reference to the controversy over sand mining in the Taiwan Strait, this paper reveals that while various geotechnologies are deployed to manage solid-fluid materials, state security practices often complicate our understanding of these shifting, dynamic geological processes and challenge human boundary-making. Therefore, geopolitics must acknowledge the nuances resulting from such solid-fluid movements and transitions, as well as their impacts on territorial issues.