Chapter 2 The Boat Will Rise, Too: on the Necessity, Allure, and Terror of Water
In: Coastal UrbanitiesSearch for other papers by Remmon E. Barbaza in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
On January 2017, a group of mostly students and professors from the Ateneo de Manila University and the National University of Singapore embarked on a 10-day sailing adventure from Manila Bay to Lubang, Mindoro Occidental, on board three replicas of the balangay, a traditional, pre-colonial boat. They were joined by traditional boat-builders from Mindanao, artists, scientists, and scholars from other universities and institutions, members of the Philippine Coast Guard, adventurers, and volunteers. The interaction among these people, coming as they were from the most diverse backgrounds and from different parts of the world, became a rich opportunity for them to exchange insights not only on how we might adapt to a world that will be reshaped by rising sea levels, but ultimately also about the human condition. This essay seeks to articulate such insights, guided for the most part by Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, while focusing on key concepts such as dwelling, nearness (“de-distancing”), directionality, and movements between points belonging to a context of meaning, that is to say, of the world of human beings, even as we are faced with the prospect of major environmental changes.