Tracking the Literature of Tropical Weather

Abstract

This chapter tracks the etymology and usage of the terms hurricane, cyclone, and typhoon. It discusses the relationship between indigenous knowledge, scientific data collection, and analysis, and the place of tropical cyclone in a range of literatures—as a record of event and impact—but also its employment as a metaphor of human-centred disruption and violence. The authors discuss the association of tropical cyclone with the sublime, with a colonial, othering discourse of tropicality, and with palliative politics. This chapter offers a rationale for the book itself and an overview of the range of discourses through which tropical cyclone can be tracked.