Just doing their job

The hidden meteorologists of colonial Hong Kong c. 1883–1914

Bibliographic Data

ID8394175
AuthorsFiona Williamson (0000-0002-1203-8546, Singapore University of Social Sciences, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume54
Issue3
Pages341-359
Publication date2021-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0007087421000182
PMID33896430
OpenAlexW3159428100
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited33

This article investigates the contribution made by indigenous employees to the work of the Hong Kong Observatory from its inception and into the early twentieth century. As has so often been the case in Western histories of science, the significance of indigenous workers and of women in the Hong Kong Observatory has been obscured by the stories of the government officials and observatory director(s). Yet without the employees, the service could not have functioned or grown. While the glimpses of their work and lives are fleeting, often only revealed in minor archival references, this article seeks to interrogate these sources to make these workers’ lives visible and to offer an examination of everyday working relationships at this place and point in time. It focuses on three areas. First, an exploration of who these workers were, and the role they played at the observatory. Second, an investigation of their contribution to the nascent science of meteorology. Third, an examination of available evidence – levels of high staff turnover, complaints, instances of foot dragging, or working to rule, as well as the tenacity to continue for years under difficult working conditions – to demonstrate the ability of workers to reject or to negotiate with colonial/patriarchal authority. In profiling their stories, this article will add to the literature examining the lives of scientific workers and their contributions to science, the everyday cultural and social contexts of colonial meteorology, and the role of ordinary men and women in producing meteorological knowledge at this time

Colonialism · Government (linguistics · Indigenous · Media studies · Negotiation · Observatory · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · History and Developments in Astronomy · History of Science and Natural History · Law

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