Organizer: Graduate Education and Training in Southeast Asia (GETSEA)
Type/Location: Virtual
Description:
Join us for a virtual discussion with Adam Bobbette, author of The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java, winner of the 2025 Benda Prize. All participants should read the Preface and Chapter 1: “Political Geology as Method.” Those interested in reading more should also consider Chapter 3: “Intercalated: The Political and Spiritual Geographies of Plate Tectonics.”
About the Book:
The Pulse of the Earth is a highly innovative and compelling account of the intersections between geology, colonial history, and spiritual cosmologies. Adam Bobbette reframes Java as a pivotal site for the development of geological knowledge, challenging the conventional Western-centric narratives of scientific history. By delving into Javanese spiritual practices and their influence on geological thought, he unveils how volcanology not only transformed but was also shaped by local cosmologies. Through riveting accounts of political struggles, colonial ambitions, and indigenous epistemologies, the book illuminates the deep geosocial tectonics that continue to influence how humans and landscapes interact. Particularly striking are Bobbette’s insights into the coexistence and tensions between scientific and spiritual epistemologies, revealing how each seeks to understand the rhythms of the earth.
The Pulse of the Earth offers fresh perspectives on human and more-than-human entanglements that help rethink the Anthropocene. The book is a monumental contribution to environmental humanities and political geology, an emerging field that blurs the boundary between science and social history. It eloquently appeals to scholars across disciplines, and is a timely read, not least in offering a refreshing perspective on how climate crises have been addressed in the past and the present.
About the Author:
Adam Bobbette is a geographer and Lecturer at the University of Glasgow in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences. His current monograph, The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java, examines how Indonesian Islam shaped the modern understanding of the earth. His writing has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, N+1, and Cabinet Magazine and he is co-editor and contributor to Political Geology: Active Stratigraphies and the Making of Life (2019) and New Earth Histories (2022). New Earth Histories tells the history of the environmental and earth sciences from a cosmopolitan, global perspective. He is currently working on a project about twentieth century spiritual movements, fossil fuel prospecting, and conceptions of self. He is co-founder of Kebun Lithos, a research centre on Mount Merapi volcano in central Java.He is co-founder of Kebun Lithos, a research centre on Mount Merapi volcano in central Java.
Registration:
To attend the event virtually, please register here.