Slippery ontologies of tidal flats

Tidal flats, such as South Korea's getbol, exhibit 'slippery ontologies'—dynamic and ambiguous materialities that resist modern attempts to classify or measure them. This study reveals how their in-between nature, neither land nor sea, frustrates efforts to place them within structured knowledge systems. Through interviews with scientists and comparative analysis of land-water spaces, it highlights the contributions of both non-human elements (e.g., sediment, organisms) and human practices to this slipperiness. The research underscores that embracing tidal flats' fluid ontologies could mitigate their endangerment, as over half of South Korea's tidal flats have been lost to reclamation in the past century.

Choi, Y. R. (2020). Slippery ontologies of tidal flats. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 5(1), 340–361. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620979312