Science in a crisis: Assembling volcanic knowledge in twentieth century Montserrat

Mahony, Martin, Barclay, Jenni, Pascal, Karen, Pyle, David M. and Scarlett, Jazmin (2025) Science in a crisis: Assembling volcanic knowledge in twentieth century Montserrat. Journal of Historical Geography, 90. pp. 1-12. ISSN 0305-7488

Preview

PDF (Mahony et al. - 2025 - Science in a crisis Assembling volcanic knowledge in twentieth century Montserrat) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

In the 1930s Montserrat, part of the British Leeward Islands colony, experienced a prolonged period of seismic unrest which many on the island interpreted as presaging a volcanic eruption. During the crisis several international scientists visited Montserrat and advised the local and imperial authorities on the likelihood of an eruption, and the island became a key node in an increasingly global volcanology. The process of assembling reliable knowledge about the volcanic system and its likely future behaviour was nonetheless heavily structured by colonial hierarchies and contestations over the reliability of different observers and the utility of long term monitoring. When the volcano eventually began erupting in 1995 it put paid to lingering governmental doubts over its very existence. We propose that work on the geographies of science has so far paid insufficient attention to the spatialities of crisis science, and that doing so can shed new light on both the history and persistence of colonial practices in the environmental sciences and in disaster management. Adopting longer perspectives on the politics of crisis science can yield new insights into the geographies and political geologies of a crisis-ridden present.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: The authors do not have permission to share data. Funding information: This research was supported by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), as part of the project ‘Curating Crises: The Past as a Key to Improving the Stewardship of Hazard Knowledge for the Future’ (AH/W00898X/1). Additional support was provided from the NERC Centre for Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET; to DMP) and the GCRF and Newton Fund Consolidation Accounts (GNCA; Oxford and UEA).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 15 - life on land,sdg 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions,4* ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_on_land
Faculty \ School:	University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Science, Society and Sustainability University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Geosciences
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	03 Sep 2025 14:30
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2025 06:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100284
DOI:	10.1016/j.jhg.2025.08.002

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item