Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926343
Sara M. B. Simon
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy</em> by Sara J. Grossman <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Sara M. B. Simon (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy</em> By Sara J. Grossman. Durham: Duke University Press, 2023. Pp. 246. <p>In <em>Immeasurable Weather</em>, Sara J. Grossman explores the historical production of U.S. weather data through an examination of the data's inextricable proximity to power. As the full title suggests, the book spans nearly two centuries. Gross-man covers state incentives to capture weather data, the labor demands required to collect and contextualize data adequately, the eventual militarization of weather data, and the damaging legacies baked into contemporary understandings about the data's utility. Most acutely, the book shows how settler colonialism has been foundational to shaping the U.S. public's conception of data production as an objective form of truth building and as a tool of control: "What was countable could be quantified; what was quantifiable could be known and claimed" (p. 90). Grossman writes about these troubling hegemonic data conceptions with urgency, clarity, and beautiful attention to prose. A sociocultural history of weather data, <em>Immeasurable Weather</em> is a feat both in substance and style.</p> <p><em>Immeasurable Weather</em> begins in the early nineteenth century with stories of the steadfast workers—from "academy professionals to weather observers and enthusiasts" (p. 29)—who filled out weather tables tediously, helping to construct a national project of data collection. As Grossman describes, this system of volunteer labor laid the groundwork for a shared cultural narrative around knowledge production and nation building (ch. 1). The book's second chapter builds on this theme of data labor by examining the national network of white women weather data workers who compiled and calculated information for the Smithsonian Meteorological Project. Next, <em>Immeasurable Weather</em> recounts late nineteenth-century efforts to gather upper-air data automatically and remotely, through the male-dominated <strong>[End Page 720]</strong> domain of meteorological kite technologies (ch. 3). The book moves into the twentieth century by further examining the professionalization of weather data, interrogating the shift away from careful, hand-produced data forms and toward a more systematized and automated network of continuous data streams (ch. 4). In the final chapter, Grossman examines the power consolidated and obtained through satellite meteorology, noting how government agencies like the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency have supported the development of U.S. weather data systems.</p> <p>Grossman provides evidence for her claims through a fascinating collection of letters, data fo
评论者： 不可测量的天气：Sara J. Grossman Sara M. B. Simon (bio) Immeasurable Weather：Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy By Sara J. Grossman.杜伦：杜克大学出版社，2023 年。第 246 页。在《不可估量的天气》一书中，萨拉-J-格罗斯曼通过研究数据与权力密不可分的关系，探讨了美国天气数据的历史生产。正如书名所示，该书跨越了近两个世纪。格罗斯-曼在书中介绍了国家收集气象数据的动机、充分收集数据并将其背景化所需的劳动力要求、气象数据的最终军事化，以及对数据效用的当代理解所遗留下来的破坏性影响。最尖锐的是，该书展示了定居殖民主义是如何在美国公众心目中塑造了数据生产的概念，将其视为建立真相的客观形式和控制工具："可计算的东西可以量化；可量化的东西可以被了解和宣称"（第 90 页）。格罗斯曼以急迫、清晰和优美的散文笔触描写了这些令人不安的霸权数据概念。作为一部气象数据的社会文化史，《不可估量的天气》在内容和风格上都是一项壮举。不可测量的天气》从十九世纪初开始，讲述了从 "学院专业人员到气象观测员和爱好者"（第 29 页）等坚定不移的工作者的故事，他们乏味地填写天气表格，帮助构建了一个全国性的数据收集项目。正如格罗斯曼所描述的，这一志愿劳动系统为围绕知识生产和国家建设的共同文化叙事奠定了基础（第 1 章）。本书第二章以数据劳动为主题，研究了为史密森气象项目编纂和计算信息的全国白人女性气象数据工作者网络。接下来，《不可估量的天气》讲述了 19 世纪晚期通过男性主导的气象风筝技术 [尾页 720]领域自动和远程收集高层空气数据的努力（第 3 章）。进入二十世纪，该书进一步研究了气象数据的专业化，探讨了从细致的手工制作数据形式向更加系统化和自动化的连续数据流网络的转变（第 4 章）。在最后一章，格罗斯曼研究了通过卫星气象学巩固和获得的权力，指出国防部和中央情报局等政府机构如何支持美国气象数据系统的发展。格罗斯曼通过一系列精彩的信件、数据表格、指导手册和机构报告为她的观点提供了证据。在整本书中，这些原始资料与跨学科的学术研究进行了对话，使本书与各个领域的读者都有关联，从格罗斯曼自己的环境研究学科到土著研究、残疾研究和批判性数据研究等领域。格罗斯曼将这些数据工作者的故事与詹妮弗-莱特（Jennifer Light）和马尔-希克斯（Mar Hicks）等学者的类似研究联系起来，不仅展示了人类劳动如何一直是数据制作过程的基础，而且展示了公众对技术进步的概念是如何被基础设施劳动深刻塑造的，无论这些背景故事多么隐蔽。对于对数据、自动化和技术的批判性研究感兴趣的学者来说，《不可估量的天气》中的许多关键主题都很有价值。技术史学家会发现气象数据军事化与战时计算机的兴起之间存在着耐人寻味的联系。事实上，格罗斯曼的这本书是对克里斯汀-C-哈珀（Kristine C. Harper）的《数字天气》（Weather by the Numbers，2008 年）的补充，后者探讨了电子数字计算机在数字天气预报专业化中的作用。此外，对于卡尔-比鲁克（Cal Biruk）撰写的关于公共卫生数据生产的文章，或丹-布克（Dan Bouk）撰写的关于人寿保险公司和美国人口普查的文章的读者来说，格罗斯曼关于天气数据为了标准化而被剥离其复杂性的叙述也不会陌生。格罗斯曼还尖锐地批评了实时天气数据流和可视化如何扭曲了公众的危机概念，使数据脱离了 "生活"。
{"title":"Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy by Sara J. Grossman (review)","authors":"Sara M. B. Simon","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926343","url":null,"abstract":"<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy</em> by Sara J. Grossman <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Sara M. B. Simon (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy</em> By Sara J. Grossman. Durham: Duke University Press, 2023. Pp. 246. <p>In <em>Immeasurable Weather</em>, Sara J. Grossman explores the historical production of U.S. weather data through an examination of the data's inextricable proximity to power. As the full title suggests, the book spans nearly two centuries. Gross-man covers state incentives to capture weather data, the labor demands required to collect and contextualize data adequately, the eventual militarization of weather data, and the damaging legacies baked into contemporary understandings about the data's utility. Most acutely, the book shows how settler colonialism has been foundational to shaping the U.S. public's conception of data production as an objective form of truth building and as a tool of control: \"What was countable could be quantified; what was quantifiable could be known and claimed\" (p. 90). Grossman writes about these troubling hegemonic data conceptions with urgency, clarity, and beautiful attention to prose. A sociocultural history of weather data, <em>Immeasurable Weather</em> is a feat both in substance and style.</p> <p><em>Immeasurable Weather</em> begins in the early nineteenth century with stories of the steadfast workers—from \"academy professionals to weather observers and enthusiasts\" (p. 29)—who filled out weather tables tediously, helping to construct a national project of data collection. As Grossman describes, this system of volunteer labor laid the groundwork for a shared cultural narrative around knowledge production and nation building (ch. 1). The book's second chapter builds on this theme of data labor by examining the national network of white women weather data workers who compiled and calculated information for the Smithsonian Meteorological Project. Next, <em>Immeasurable Weather</em> recounts late nineteenth-century efforts to gather upper-air data automatically and remotely, through the male-dominated <strong>[End Page 720]</strong> domain of meteorological kite technologies (ch. 3). The book moves into the twentieth century by further examining the professionalization of weather data, interrogating the shift away from careful, hand-produced data forms and toward a more systematized and automated network of continuous data streams (ch. 4). In the final chapter, Grossman examines the power consolidated and obtained through satellite meteorology, noting how government agencies like the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency have supported the development of U.S. weather data systems.</p> <p>Grossman provides evidence for her claims through a fascinating collection of letters, data fo","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926337
Al Coppola
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>British Literature and Technology, 1600–1830</em> ed. by Kristin M. Girten and Aaron R. Hanlon <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Al Coppola (bio) </li> </ul> <em>British Literature and Technology, 1600–1830</em> Edited by Kristin M. Girten and Aaron R. Hanlon. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2023. Pp. 216. <p>This volume collects eight articles exploring the relationship of literary texts and material realities, mostly in England, mainly during the long eighteenth century. Both of the editors and all of the contributors hold Ph.D.s in literature. So does the person who was asked to write this review. If only by virtue of these facts, this volume represents a provocation: What do a bunch of English professors have to contribute to the history of technology?</p> <p>If you read the thoughtful introduction by Girten and Hanlon, and especially Joseph Drury's deft afterword, "On the Uses of the History of Technology for Literary Studies and Vice Versa," you'll get what strikes me as a darn good answer. The editors argue that some of the collected articles show how "literary and aesthetic considerations contributed to the development of material technologies, while in others, the textual treatment of technology impacted how people understood and engaged with it" (p. 10). As Drury writes, "Technologies are ways of doing things, not just ways of knowing. As such, they extend deep into the rhythms of everyday life in a way that is less often the case with scientific knowledge" (p. 164). Keying into the concept of affordance from design theory and the wealth of new formalist work in literary studies, which asserts that literary form "<em>does</em> things, it doesn't simply mean things" (p. 168), Drury argues that "textual analysis [as] practiced by literary scholars" is particularly suited to explore "one of the key insights of modern science and technology studies": that "the function of a technical artifact depends on the particular circumstances of its use" (p. 169). Attending to literary texts helps us investigate "<em>imagined</em> uses of technologies": showing us the futures that never came and the futures that yet might be, but also charting the widest circle of their reach. Not just the trials and tribulations of the innovators but also "those who may have never had any contact with a technology but were nonetheless powerfully affected by it" (p. 173).</p> <p>Great collections contain solid chapters that make a meaningful contribution to their subject. In this regard, this collection is more than worthy, particularly insofar as the authors employ science and technology studies to deepen the scholarly conversation about their literary objects of study. Exceptional collections do all that while gathering a body of work that shares a unity of purpose and exemplifies the theoretical approach and critical <strong>[End Page 709]</strong> interventions outlined by the editors. This collecti
{"title":"British Literature and Technology, 1600–1830 ed. by Kristin M. Girten and Aaron R. Hanlon (review)","authors":"Al Coppola","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926337","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926337","url":null,"abstract":"<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>British Literature and Technology, 1600–1830</em> ed. by Kristin M. Girten and Aaron R. Hanlon <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Al Coppola (bio) </li> </ul> <em>British Literature and Technology, 1600–1830</em> Edited by Kristin M. Girten and Aaron R. Hanlon. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2023. Pp. 216. <p>This volume collects eight articles exploring the relationship of literary texts and material realities, mostly in England, mainly during the long eighteenth century. Both of the editors and all of the contributors hold Ph.D.s in literature. So does the person who was asked to write this review. If only by virtue of these facts, this volume represents a provocation: What do a bunch of English professors have to contribute to the history of technology?</p> <p>If you read the thoughtful introduction by Girten and Hanlon, and especially Joseph Drury's deft afterword, \"On the Uses of the History of Technology for Literary Studies and Vice Versa,\" you'll get what strikes me as a darn good answer. The editors argue that some of the collected articles show how \"literary and aesthetic considerations contributed to the development of material technologies, while in others, the textual treatment of technology impacted how people understood and engaged with it\" (p. 10). As Drury writes, \"Technologies are ways of doing things, not just ways of knowing. As such, they extend deep into the rhythms of everyday life in a way that is less often the case with scientific knowledge\" (p. 164). Keying into the concept of affordance from design theory and the wealth of new formalist work in literary studies, which asserts that literary form \"<em>does</em> things, it doesn't simply mean things\" (p. 168), Drury argues that \"textual analysis [as] practiced by literary scholars\" is particularly suited to explore \"one of the key insights of modern science and technology studies\": that \"the function of a technical artifact depends on the particular circumstances of its use\" (p. 169). Attending to literary texts helps us investigate \"<em>imagined</em> uses of technologies\": showing us the futures that never came and the futures that yet might be, but also charting the widest circle of their reach. Not just the trials and tribulations of the innovators but also \"those who may have never had any contact with a technology but were nonetheless powerfully affected by it\" (p. 173).</p> <p>Great collections contain solid chapters that make a meaningful contribution to their subject. In this regard, this collection is more than worthy, particularly insofar as the authors employ science and technology studies to deepen the scholarly conversation about their literary objects of study. Exceptional collections do all that while gathering a body of work that shares a unity of purpose and exemplifies the theoretical approach and critical <strong>[End Page 709]</strong> interventions outlined by the editors. This collecti","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926314
John B. Seitz
abstract:
At the turn of the twentieth century, Russian imperial officials hoped to transform the Kazakh Steppe from a zone of pastoral nomadism into a zone of sedentary grain farms. They planned to accomplish this transformation by importing peasants from European Russia and settling them in the steppe along with advanced scientific agricultural practices, equipment, and infrastructure. It was a project that linked steppe settlement and the Russian Empire to a global story of settler colonialism, science, and technology in the first decades of the twentieth century. An examination of this project through the lens of the expansion of grain farming reveals that the changes it wrought were not solely due to European science and technology but were contingent, dependent on local knowledge, the vagaries of climate, and adaptation to the realities of the steppe environment.
{"title":"Seeds of the Settler Colony: How Peasant and Kazakh Knowledge, Environment, and Bureaucracy Shaped Steppe Agronomy in the Late Russian Empire","authors":"John B. Seitz","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926314","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>abstract:</p><p>At the turn of the twentieth century, Russian imperial officials hoped to transform the Kazakh Steppe from a zone of pastoral nomadism into a zone of sedentary grain farms. They planned to accomplish this transformation by importing peasants from European Russia and settling them in the steppe along with advanced scientific agricultural practices, equipment, and infrastructure. It was a project that linked steppe settlement and the Russian Empire to a global story of settler colonialism, science, and technology in the first decades of the twentieth century. An examination of this project through the lens of the expansion of grain farming reveals that the changes it wrought were not solely due to European science and technology but were contingent, dependent on local knowledge, the vagaries of climate, and adaptation to the realities of the steppe environment.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926332
Edgar Gómez-Cruz
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Different Engines: Media Technologies From Latin America</em> by Andrés Burbano <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Edgar Gómez-Cruz (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Different Engines: Media Technologies From Latin America</em> By Andrés Burbano. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. Pp. 220. <p>In <em>Different Engines</em>, Colombian scholar Andrés Burbano invites readers to contemplate an intriguing alternative genealogy of pervasive technologies like photography, computer music, color television, programming languages, and physical computing by looking at technologies developed in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico. Through this lens, Burbano unravels a concealed history of technological development, innovation, and creativity in Latin America, shedding light on the intersection of cultural, social, economic, and historical factors in the innovation process. In dispelling the notion that the Global South merely consumes technologies from the North, the book asserts that Latin America is a constant hub of creative innovation, often operating independently of market logics. The book not only serves as a historical account but, more importantly, invites readers to actively participate in the construction of media and technological futures rooted in and emanating from Latin America. The overarching message is a call to reconsider technological innovation not solely within the confines of global economic power centers but as a dynamic force that can emanate from diverse and unexpected sources. Thus, the lines between "historically significant" and "historically successful" are blurred.</p> <p>Burbano employs a media archaeology perspective with an artistic sensibility, delving into the geopolitical, social, and personal circumstances surrounding the development of five distinct technologies, each of them developed in Latin America. Each chapter meticulously examines one of these technologies: photography, a color wheel for television, COMDASUAR (a personal computer), Lua (a programming language), and Wiring (an interface for physical computing). Channeling the role of an archaeologist revealing new artifacts, Burbano explores the inception, conditions, barriers, <strong>[End Page 697]</strong> and logics behind each invention, providing a comprehensive understanding of how they "failed" or "succeeded."</p> <p>The book has two sections: "Backtracking" and "Sidetracking." Each chapter aligns with the logic of its respective technology. Consequently, the chapters on photography and television read more like media histories, while others delve deeper into technical computational details. This approach transforms each chapter into a discrete story, with varying levels of readability.</p> <p><em>Different Engines</em> goes beyond a historical exploration, intertwining personal involvement with the technologies discussed and creating a narrative that bridges historical analysis and hands-on experience. For example, Bu
{"title":"Different Engines: Media Technologies From Latin America by Andrés Burbano (review)","authors":"Edgar Gómez-Cruz","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926332","url":null,"abstract":"<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Different Engines: Media Technologies From Latin America</em> by Andrés Burbano <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Edgar Gómez-Cruz (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Different Engines: Media Technologies From Latin America</em> By Andrés Burbano. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. Pp. 220. <p>In <em>Different Engines</em>, Colombian scholar Andrés Burbano invites readers to contemplate an intriguing alternative genealogy of pervasive technologies like photography, computer music, color television, programming languages, and physical computing by looking at technologies developed in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico. Through this lens, Burbano unravels a concealed history of technological development, innovation, and creativity in Latin America, shedding light on the intersection of cultural, social, economic, and historical factors in the innovation process. In dispelling the notion that the Global South merely consumes technologies from the North, the book asserts that Latin America is a constant hub of creative innovation, often operating independently of market logics. The book not only serves as a historical account but, more importantly, invites readers to actively participate in the construction of media and technological futures rooted in and emanating from Latin America. The overarching message is a call to reconsider technological innovation not solely within the confines of global economic power centers but as a dynamic force that can emanate from diverse and unexpected sources. Thus, the lines between \"historically significant\" and \"historically successful\" are blurred.</p> <p>Burbano employs a media archaeology perspective with an artistic sensibility, delving into the geopolitical, social, and personal circumstances surrounding the development of five distinct technologies, each of them developed in Latin America. Each chapter meticulously examines one of these technologies: photography, a color wheel for television, COMDASUAR (a personal computer), Lua (a programming language), and Wiring (an interface for physical computing). Channeling the role of an archaeologist revealing new artifacts, Burbano explores the inception, conditions, barriers, <strong>[End Page 697]</strong> and logics behind each invention, providing a comprehensive understanding of how they \"failed\" or \"succeeded.\"</p> <p>The book has two sections: \"Backtracking\" and \"Sidetracking.\" Each chapter aligns with the logic of its respective technology. Consequently, the chapters on photography and television read more like media histories, while others delve deeper into technical computational details. This approach transforms each chapter into a discrete story, with varying levels of readability.</p> <p><em>Different Engines</em> goes beyond a historical exploration, intertwining personal involvement with the technologies discussed and creating a narrative that bridges historical analysis and hands-on experience. For example, Bu","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926319
J. Justin Castro
abstract:
This review essay examines five Spanish-language books published in Latin America on the emergence of engineering in the region. Focusing on a period from roughly 1850 to 1970, these works share themes of foreigners and foreign education, nation-state construction, and social conceptions of prestige. This research suggests that throughout Latin America foreign educators and models were prominent in early engineering programs and enterprises. However, many historians associate the growth of engineering, especially civil engineering, with increasing state consolidation and economic intervention. As social perceptions of the value of professional engineering changed, domestic engineers increasingly became important planners and mediators. Some engineers became state leaders. By contextualizing these works with other scholarship on the history of engineering, this review essay highlights new insights while suggesting the need for greater attention to gender, race, and labor; comparisons between developments in Latin America, Africa, and Asia; and more research on private-sector engineers.
{"title":"Engineering History in Latin America: A Review of Spanish-Language Books","authors":"J. Justin Castro","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926319","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>abstract:</p><p>This review essay examines five Spanish-language books published in Latin America on the emergence of engineering in the region. Focusing on a period from roughly 1850 to 1970, these works share themes of foreigners and foreign education, nation-state construction, and social conceptions of prestige. This research suggests that throughout Latin America foreign educators and models were prominent in early engineering programs and enterprises. However, many historians associate the growth of engineering, especially civil engineering, with increasing state consolidation and economic intervention. As social perceptions of the value of professional engineering changed, domestic engineers increasingly became important planners and mediators. Some engineers became state leaders. By contextualizing these works with other scholarship on the history of engineering, this review essay highlights new insights while suggesting the need for greater attention to gender, race, and labor; comparisons between developments in Latin America, Africa, and Asia; and more research on private-sector engineers.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926335
Annie Y. Patrick
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology</em> by Silvia Casini <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Annie Y. Patrick (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology</em> By Silvia Casini. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021. Pp. 312. <p>In 1974, a biologist in the biomedical physics laboratory at the University of Aberdeen broke the neck of a mouse to test a newly developed magnetic system. As the system produced data, a physicist began to interpret the data using paints and crayons, creating a colorful coded image of the various tissues of the mouse. This moment would become the predecessor of what is known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—the technology used in hospitals and healthcare settings across the globe to see into the human body.</p> <p>In <em>Giving Bodies Back to Data</em>, Silvia Casini provides an enlightening study of how science and the arts engage with data visualization through her <strong>[End Page 705]</strong> study of MRI technology. She traces the development of MRI technology through the intersecting interests of researchers, clinicians, and physicists at the University of Aberdeen to explore how data visualization is a process that creates a unique space to consider both what is seen and what remains hidden. Perhaps more interesting, Casini continues this study of data visualization as she draws connections between the history of MRI technology and the work of artists and collaborators who transformed this data and clinical knowledge into artistic expressions that truly gave data back to the body.</p> <p>Casini's book is written for scholars and practitioners interested in art-science collaborations. With this audience in mind, she has divided her book into two sections of three chapters each. In the first section, she draws on various approaches, such as STS knowledge, medical anthropology, and historical epistemology, to examine archival and ethnographic data to study the early development of magnetic imaging technology. For example, Casini uses Mark I, a full-body MRI scanner prototype, as a boundary object that moves between the researchers' benchwork, the clinicians' needs, and underlying artistic application to make the data meaningful. In doing so, she guides the reader through the interests and objects of the many actors contributing to MRI development and its future. Casini then brings this study into the present through her interviews and observations of fast field-cycling MRI research. In this contemporary research setting, she demonstrates how data visualization remains a complicated art-science space as researchers attempt to build a more robust MRI system. This dual examination of the Aberdeen lab nicely echoes the laboratory ethnography of scholars such as Knorr, Traweek, and Latour. Additionally, it provides a well-s
评论者 让身体回归数据：西尔维娅-卡西尼（Silvia Casini）著，安妮-Y-帕特里克（Annie Y. Patrick）（简历）《让身体回归数据：磁共振技术中的图像制作者、混杂和再创造》（Giving Bodies Back to Data：西尔维娅-卡西尼（Silvia Casini）著。马萨诸塞州剑桥市：麻省理工学院出版社，2021 年。Pp.312.1974 年，阿伯丁大学（University of Aberdeen）生物医学物理实验室的一名生物学家扭断了一只老鼠的脖子，以测试新开发的磁力系统。当该系统产生数据时，一位物理学家开始用颜料和蜡笔解读数据，为小鼠的各种组织绘制了一幅色彩斑斓的编码图像。这一瞬间就是磁共振成像（MRI）的前身--全球医院和医疗机构用于观察人体的技术。在《把身体还给数据》一书中，西尔维亚-卡西尼通过对核磁共振成像技术的 [完 第 705 页] 研究，对科学和艺术如何参与数据可视化进行了富有启发性的研究。她通过阿伯丁大学的研究人员、临床医生和物理学家的交叉兴趣，追溯了核磁共振成像技术的发展历程，探讨了数据可视化是如何创造出一个独特的空间，让人们既能看到什么，又能隐藏什么。也许更有趣的是，卡西尼继续对数据可视化进行研究，她将核磁共振成像技术的历史与艺术家和合作者的工作联系起来，这些艺术家和合作者将这些数据和临床知识转化为艺术表现形式，真正将数据还给身体。卡西尼的这本书是写给对艺术与科学合作感兴趣的学者和从业人员的。考虑到这一读者群，她将本书分为两个部分，每部分三章。在第一部分，她借鉴了各种方法，如 STS 知识、医学人类学和历史认识论，研究档案和人种学数据，以研究磁成像技术的早期发展。例如，卡西尼将全身磁共振成像扫描仪原型 Mark I 作为边界对象，在研究人员的工作台、临床医生的需求和潜在的艺术应用之间游走，使数据变得更有意义。通过这种方式，她引导读者了解为核磁共振成像的发展及其未来做出贡献的众多参与者的兴趣和目标。随后，卡西尼通过对快速现场循环核磁共振成像研究的访谈和观察，将这项研究带入当下。在这一当代研究环境中，她展示了数据可视化如何在研究人员试图建立一个更强大的核磁共振成像系统时，仍然是一个复杂的艺术-科学空间。这种对阿伯丁实验室的双重考察很好地呼应了克诺尔、特拉韦克和拉图尔等学者的实验室人种学研究。此外，它还充分说明了核磁共振成像技术和数据可视化是如何嵌入人文学科的。在这两部分之间，作者还穿插了一段插曲，从数据可视化的科学过渡到数据可视化的艺术。这篇读物以 "网格中的生命 "为题，将笛卡尔网格作为科学、数据、甚至我们身体的基石，非常贴切。在这段简短的插曲之后，第 5 章开始了本书的旅程，介绍艺术家创作雕塑和版画的最新进展。例如，卡西尼介绍了使用核磁共振成像技术创作肖像画、雕塑和多重混合效果图的艺术家，这些作品挑战了核磁共振成像技术的科学和临床含义，并提醒我们注意图像中蕴含的人类。她展示了艺术家如何挑战成像技术的还原论，强调数据的关系特性，也许更重要的是，将数据与人及其生活联系起来。在这部经过深入研究的作品中，卡西尼解读了当前有关成像技术的讨论，探索了输出美学、艺术表达和科学实践的交叉点。此外，她还提供了一个研究框架，供其他对科学与艺术交叉领域的类似问题和实践感兴趣的人参考。虽然卡西尼引入了研究人员和艺术家的声音，但却缺少了被扫描身体的声音 [尾页 706]。身体最终被视为图像和雕塑的视角，将极大地促进本书暗流涌动的身体。总之，这是一本引人入胜、富有启发性的读物，它将科学与现实生活联系在一起...
{"title":"Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology by Silvia Casini (review)","authors":"Annie Y. Patrick","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926335","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926335","url":null,"abstract":"<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology</em> by Silvia Casini <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Annie Y. Patrick (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology</em> By Silvia Casini. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021. Pp. 312. <p>In 1974, a biologist in the biomedical physics laboratory at the University of Aberdeen broke the neck of a mouse to test a newly developed magnetic system. As the system produced data, a physicist began to interpret the data using paints and crayons, creating a colorful coded image of the various tissues of the mouse. This moment would become the predecessor of what is known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—the technology used in hospitals and healthcare settings across the globe to see into the human body.</p> <p>In <em>Giving Bodies Back to Data</em>, Silvia Casini provides an enlightening study of how science and the arts engage with data visualization through her <strong>[End Page 705]</strong> study of MRI technology. She traces the development of MRI technology through the intersecting interests of researchers, clinicians, and physicists at the University of Aberdeen to explore how data visualization is a process that creates a unique space to consider both what is seen and what remains hidden. Perhaps more interesting, Casini continues this study of data visualization as she draws connections between the history of MRI technology and the work of artists and collaborators who transformed this data and clinical knowledge into artistic expressions that truly gave data back to the body.</p> <p>Casini's book is written for scholars and practitioners interested in art-science collaborations. With this audience in mind, she has divided her book into two sections of three chapters each. In the first section, she draws on various approaches, such as STS knowledge, medical anthropology, and historical epistemology, to examine archival and ethnographic data to study the early development of magnetic imaging technology. For example, Casini uses Mark I, a full-body MRI scanner prototype, as a boundary object that moves between the researchers' benchwork, the clinicians' needs, and underlying artistic application to make the data meaningful. In doing so, she guides the reader through the interests and objects of the many actors contributing to MRI development and its future. Casini then brings this study into the present through her interviews and observations of fast field-cycling MRI research. In this contemporary research setting, she demonstrates how data visualization remains a complicated art-science space as researchers attempt to build a more robust MRI system. This dual examination of the Aberdeen lab nicely echoes the laboratory ethnography of scholars such as Knorr, Traweek, and Latour. Additionally, it provides a well-s","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926348
Simone Fari
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Il Canale di Suez e l'Italia (1856–1869) [The Suez Canal and Italy (1856–1869)]</em> by Andrea Giuntini <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Simone Fari (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Il Canale di Suez e l'Italia (1856–1869) [The Suez Canal and Italy (1856–1869)]</em> By Andrea Giuntini. Pisa Ospedaletto: Pacini Editore, 2021. Pp. 174. <p>Andrea Giuntini's <em>Il Canale di Suez e l'Italia</em> is an insightful and meticulously researched exploration of the Italian experience surrounding the design, construction, and inauguration of the Suez Canal. Giuntini offers a fresh perspective on this historical landmark by delving into a wide array of primary and secondary sources, including articles, books, and travel memoirs written by Italians who were intimately involved in the canal's development. This multifaceted narrative paints a rich and vivid picture of the multifarious roles played by Italians in this monumental project.</p> <p>The book seamlessly merges meticulous research with a fluid and accessible writing style, making it an engaging and informative read for both scholars and general readers. Giuntini's adept storytelling techniques bring to life a diverse cast of characters who, while individually modest in their roles, collectively played a pivotal part in the realization of the Suez Canal. From influential political figures to enterprising industrialists and diligent laborers, Giuntini sheds light on the various societal strata that contributed to the canal's development, adding depth and texture to the narrative and reflecting the intricacies of nineteenth-century Italian society.</p> <p>The book carefully dissects the aspirations and contributions of Italians from different walks of life, providing a nuanced understanding of their collective engagement. Among the key players were influential politicians who were instrumental in Italy's unification and who saw the Suez Canal as a means to bolster the nation's economic and political stature on the world stage. Concurrently, forward-thinking entrepreneurs recognized the canal's potential to expand their commercial interests, underlining the economic foresight that characterized the Italian engagement in the project.</p> <p>Notably, Giuntini emphasizes the active role played by Italian trade chambers, which tirelessly advocated for the protection of their members' interests and actively promoted investment in the canal's construction. This <strong>[End Page 729]</strong> underscores the multidimensional nature of Italian support for the canal, highlighting a determined collective effort to partake in the opportunities presented by this transformative infrastructure.</p> <p>The Italian workforce that contributed to the canal's construction was equally diverse and skilled. Experienced engineers, adept at addressing the unique challenges posed by sandy terrains, collaborated with diplomats who actively promoted Italy's prominent role in the proj
评论者 Il Canale di Suez e l'Italia (1856-1869) [The Suez Canal and Italy (1856-1869)] by Andrea Giuntini Simone Fari (bio) Il Canale di Suez e l'Italia (1856-1869) [The Suez Canal and Italy (1856-1869)] By Andrea Giuntini.Pisa Ospedaletto: Pacini Editore, 2021。Pp.174.Andrea Giuntini 的《Il Canale di Suez e l'Italia》对意大利在苏伊士运河的设计、建造和通航方面的经历进行了深入细致的研究。Giuntini 深入研究了大量第一手和第二手资料，包括由密切参与运河开发的意大利人撰写的文章、书籍和旅行回忆录，从而为这一历史地标提供了全新的视角。这种多层面的叙述方式生动而丰富地描绘了意大利人在这一不朽工程中扮演的各种角色。该书将细致入微的研究与流畅易懂的写作风格完美融合，使其成为学者和普通读者的一本引人入胜的资料性读物。吉恩蒂尼善于运用讲故事的技巧，栩栩如生地展现了一群不同的人物，他们虽然各自的角色并不突出，但却在苏伊士运河的建设过程中共同发挥了关键作用。从有影响力的政治人物到积极进取的实业家和勤劳的劳动者，朱尼尼揭示了为运河发展做出贡献的各个社会阶层，增加了叙事的深度和质感，反映了十九世纪意大利社会的错综复杂。该书仔细剖析了各行各业意大利人的愿望和贡献，让人对他们的集体参与有了细致入微的了解。其中的关键人物包括一些有影响力的政治家，他们在意大利统一过程中发挥了重要作用，并将苏伊士运河视为在世界舞台上提升国家经济和政治地位的手段。与此同时，具有前瞻性思维的企业家们也认识到运河对扩大其商业利益的潜力，这凸显了意大利参与该项目的经济远见。值得注意的是，Giuntini 强调了意大利贸易商会所发挥的积极作用，这些商会坚持不懈地倡导保护其成员的利益，并积极推动对运河建设的投资。这[第 729 页]突出了意大利人对运河的多层面支持，彰显了意大利人为分享这一变革性基础设施所带来的机遇而做出的坚定的集体努力。为运河建设做出贡献的意大利劳动力同样具有多样性和技能性。经验丰富的工程师善于应对沙地带来的独特挑战，他们与外交官合作，积极宣传意大利在该项目中的突出作用。朱蒂尼的分析概括了意大利的专业知识和参与程度。该书还对意大利政界要人、贵族和企业家参加的盛大落成庆典表示敬意，这证明了那个时代所特有的广泛的乐观主义和热情。然而，正如朱蒂尼恰当地阐明的那样，苏伊士运河的繁荣远未实现，它揭示了意大利在技术和财政方面的限制，这些限制阻碍了意大利充分利用运河战略潜力的能力。在苏伊士运河通航后的几十年内，意大利清醒地认识到，仅靠苏伊士运河并不能使意大利成为地中海地区的经济和政治主导力量。Giuntini 全面回顾了有关苏伊士运河诞生和发展的历史文献。Giuntini 将苏伊士运河置于传统运输史的轨迹中，主要将其视为一个基础设施项目，在第二次工业革命期间极大地促进了运输、贸易和通信。此外，他的研究还牢牢扎根于全球史和全球化史的框架中，考虑到苏伊士运河在加速各种货物、人员和信息流动方面的破坏性影响，而这些流动共同构成了全球化本身。值得注意的是，朱蒂尼对现有文献的研究方法并不带有明显的批判性；相反，他努力汲取有价值的见解，以进行创新性的当代阐释。他将自己的研究成果完美地融入了流动性研究的范式中，而流动性研究是近几十年来备受瞩目的一个领域，朱尼尼本人也是该领域的积极倡导者。他利用科林-普利所定义的历史流动性资料，强调了苏伊士运河固有的动态性和相互关联性。
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Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926331
Teresa Huhle
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Wissen im Fluss: Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20. Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in flux: Latin American dam construction in the twentieth century as a global history of knowledge]</em> by Frederik Schulze <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Teresa Huhle (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Wissen im Fluss: Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20. Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in flux: Latin American dam construction in the twentieth century as a global history of knowledge]</em> By Frederik Schulze. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 2022. Pp. 515. <p>The scales of this book match its topic. Frederik Schulze's <em>Wissen im Fluss</em>, on the planning and construction of large dams in Latin America, is voluminous in pages, extensive in bibliography and sources, broad in its temporal and geographical scope—spanning the whole twentieth century with case studies from Uruguay, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil—and profound in its analysis. Thanks to its superb organization, coherent narrative, and masterly contextualization, it also makes for a very good read.</p> <p>Comprised as a history of knowledge, Frederik Schulze sets out to show the central role of Latin America in the production and application of the technological knowledge that was at play in the state-driven planning and construction of large dams and the infrastructures attached to them. Water engineering, he convincingly argues, was a domain of notable Latin American agency throughout the twentieth century. Engineers and other experts from the area produced, adapted, and exported technological knowledge, while politicians skillfully played foreign firms and investors against each other.</p> <p>Existing literature on the history of dams, Schulze assesses, has neglected the topics of transfer of knowledge and global interactions. Scholars on Latin America and elsewhere have critiqued dams as "large projects intoxicated with modernization" (pp. xxviii–xxix) and have focused on the environmental damage they cause, but Schulze tells us these scholars have neglected the global processes of knowledge production. He vehemently opposes what he refers to as a victimizing perspective on the Global South and presents <strong>[End Page 695]</strong> convincing arguments and evidence against such approaches. Latin America, for one, created centers of technological knowledge of its own, he shows. The unpredictability of nature, he further illustrates, made it impossible to create stable knowledge on dams, and this precarity opened spaces of contestation for local technicians and politicians.</p> <p>His journey starts in Uruguay (Rincón del Bonete Dam, 1904–48), continues to Mexico (Miguel Alemán Dam, 1944–60) and Venezuela (Guri Dam, 1949–86), and ends in Brazil (Tucuruí Dam, 1973–84). Beyond the geographical voyage, the book also moves through development ideas in Latin America's twentieth century. It starts wit
评论者 Wissen im Fluss：Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20.Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in flux：Frederik Schulze Teresa Huhle (bio) Wissen im Fluss：Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20.Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in Flux：二十世纪拉丁美洲大坝建设作为一部全球知识史］作者：弗雷德里克-舒尔茨。帕德博恩：Brill Schöningh, 2022。Pp.515.本书的规模与其主题相符。弗雷德里克-舒尔茨（Frederik Schulze）的《大坝的智慧》（Wissen im Fluss）一书介绍了拉丁美洲大型水坝的规划和建设情况，书中篇幅浩繁，参考书目和资料来源丰富，时间和地理范围广泛，涵盖整个二十世纪，对乌拉圭、墨西哥、委内瑞拉和巴西进行了案例研究，分析深刻。由于其出色的编排、连贯的叙述和巧妙的背景分析，该书还非常适合阅读。作为一部知识史，弗雷德里克-舒尔茨致力于展示拉丁美洲在生产和应用技术知识方面的核心作用，而这些知识在国家主导的大型水坝及其附属基础设施的规划和建设中发挥着重要作用。他令人信服地指出，在整个二十世纪，水利工程都是拉美著名机构的工作领域。该地区的工程师和其他专家生产、改造和出口技术知识，而政治家则巧妙地与外国公司和投资者相互博弈。舒尔茨认为，关于大坝历史的现有文献忽略了知识转让和全球互动的主题。研究拉丁美洲和其他地区的学者批评大坝是 "沉醉于现代化的大型项目"（第 xxviii-xxix 页），并关注它们对环境造成的破坏，但舒尔茨告诉我们，这些学者忽视了知识生产的全球过程。他坚决反对他所说的对全球南部的受害观点，并提出了 [第 695 页完] 令人信服的论点和证据来反对这种方法。他指出，拉丁美洲已经创建了自己的技术知识中心。他进一步说明，大自然的不可预测性使得人们无法创造稳定的大坝知识，而这种不稳定性为当地技术人员和政治家开辟了争论的空间。他的旅程从乌拉圭开始（Rincón del Bonete 大坝，1904-48 年），一直到墨西哥（米格尔-阿莱曼大坝，1944-60 年）和委内瑞拉（古里大坝，1949-86 年），最后在巴西结束（图库鲁伊大坝，1973-84 年）。除了地理航程，本书还介绍了拉丁美洲 20 世纪的发展理念。本书从为发电这一单一目的而建造大坝开始（乌拉圭），到大坝嵌入 TVA 式的地区发展规划（墨西哥），再到冷战背景下的工业化和经济规划（委内瑞拉），最后以一个象征着技术独立于北方，同时因其社会和生态后果而备受争议的项目（巴西）结束。重要的是，所有四章最后都有一个结论，将这些国家的案例置于各自所处时代的更广阔的拉美视角中。每一个案例研究都值得单独进行回顾。舒尔茨认为，拉美国家、技术官僚和私营企业是自信的技术知识生产者和应用者，他们可以与欧洲和北美的合作伙伴竞争并自觉地进行谈判。毫不奇怪，在知识生产者中，工程师扮演着特别重要的角色，舒尔茨详细阐述了他们在所有研究对象国的培训和职业化情况。然而，在舒尔茨的故事中出现的人物远不止工程师。政治家、外交官、企业家和人类学家--仅举几例--也在书中占有重要地位。尽管本书的重点是知识生产，但也对大坝的文化层面和国家建设功能进行了阐述。舒尔茨在书中指出，大坝建设通常都带有文明化的使命，不仅针对要 "驯服 "的河流，也针对河流周围的环境和人口。该书的一个特别之处在于，它在不断增加论证思路的同时，还允许许多小故事......
{"title":"Wissen im Fluss: Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20. Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in flux: Latin American dam construction in the twentieth century as a global history of knowledge] by Frederik Schulze (review)","authors":"Teresa Huhle","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926331","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926331","url":null,"abstract":"<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Wissen im Fluss: Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20. Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in flux: Latin American dam construction in the twentieth century as a global history of knowledge]</em> by Frederik Schulze <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Teresa Huhle (bio) </li> </ul> <em>Wissen im Fluss: Der lateinamerikanische Staudammbau im 20. Jahrhundert als globale Wissensgeschichte [Knowledge in flux: Latin American dam construction in the twentieth century as a global history of knowledge]</em> By Frederik Schulze. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 2022. Pp. 515. <p>The scales of this book match its topic. Frederik Schulze's <em>Wissen im Fluss</em>, on the planning and construction of large dams in Latin America, is voluminous in pages, extensive in bibliography and sources, broad in its temporal and geographical scope—spanning the whole twentieth century with case studies from Uruguay, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil—and profound in its analysis. Thanks to its superb organization, coherent narrative, and masterly contextualization, it also makes for a very good read.</p> <p>Comprised as a history of knowledge, Frederik Schulze sets out to show the central role of Latin America in the production and application of the technological knowledge that was at play in the state-driven planning and construction of large dams and the infrastructures attached to them. Water engineering, he convincingly argues, was a domain of notable Latin American agency throughout the twentieth century. Engineers and other experts from the area produced, adapted, and exported technological knowledge, while politicians skillfully played foreign firms and investors against each other.</p> <p>Existing literature on the history of dams, Schulze assesses, has neglected the topics of transfer of knowledge and global interactions. Scholars on Latin America and elsewhere have critiqued dams as \"large projects intoxicated with modernization\" (pp. xxviii–xxix) and have focused on the environmental damage they cause, but Schulze tells us these scholars have neglected the global processes of knowledge production. He vehemently opposes what he refers to as a victimizing perspective on the Global South and presents <strong>[End Page 695]</strong> convincing arguments and evidence against such approaches. Latin America, for one, created centers of technological knowledge of its own, he shows. The unpredictability of nature, he further illustrates, made it impossible to create stable knowledge on dams, and this precarity opened spaces of contestation for local technicians and politicians.</p> <p>His journey starts in Uruguay (Rincón del Bonete Dam, 1904–48), continues to Mexico (Miguel Alemán Dam, 1944–60) and Venezuela (Guri Dam, 1949–86), and ends in Brazil (Tucuruí Dam, 1973–84). Beyond the geographical voyage, the book also moves through development ideas in Latin America's twentieth century. It starts wit","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926316
Mónica Humeres, Magdalena Gil
abstract:
In 1939, directly after the worst earthquake in the country's history, the Chilean state began implementing an electrification program. This plan shaped energy goals for years to come and defined the interconnected grid that dominates the country's energy infrastructure today. Based on extensive archival work, this article describes the birth of energopolitics in the country, using technology sociologist Michel Callon's notion of "interessement" to describe the strategies of a group of engineers who acted as system builders. Their four main strategies were embracing technological futurisms, forging heterogeneous networks, articulating and mobilizing knowledge, and using crises as windows of opportunity for change. The article shows not only the historical impact of past energy choices on today's world but also that current challenges to energy transitions are not without precedent. Using a sociological framework to tell this story allows us to highlight the mechanisms through which energy systems can change.
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Pub Date : 2024-05-09DOI: 10.1353/tech.2024.a926342
Lorena Campuzano Duque
<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa</em> by Robyn D'Avignon <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Lorena Campuzano Duque (bio) </li> </ul> <em>A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa</em> By Robyn D'Avignon. Durham: Duke University Press, 2022. Pp. 328. <p>International organizations and most studies analyzing the historical, political, economic, scientific, and technological aspects of gold mining tend to use a dichotomy between industrialized and artisanal mining that regards artisanal mining as exclusively characterized by nonmechanized manual methods, individual work, and limited gold output for subsistence, while industrial mining is recognized as a fully fledged extractive industry. Robyn D'Avignon's <em>A Ritual Geology</em> challenges this dichotomy through a long-term historical and anthropological study that encompasses the history of gold mining and exploration in West Africa's Birimian Green-stone Belt, which crosses parts of present-day Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and southern Senegal, from 800 to the present.</p> <p>Drawing on more than 150 interviews, archeological studies, and transnational historical sources, D'Avignon's book is one of the first accounts of how Africans contributed not only their strength but also their brains to the mining industry, joining a new but still inchoate literature that highlights the key role of Africans in the production of agricultural, pastoralist, and botanical knowledge. D'Avignon examines both European geological surveys and African engagement with gold deposits, showing the dialectical relationships between the two, which explains why <em>orpaillage</em>, the practice of West African alluvial and vein mining, was quintessential to colonial and independent political, industrial, and social life in the Birimian Greenstone Belt. Moving beyond the conventional narrative of capitalist expansion and <strong>[End Page 718]</strong> labor exploitation, D'Avignon contends that orpaillage developed in conjunction with industrial mining, arguing that African miners in West Africa contributed significantly to the scientific knowledge used by industrial mines. The book successfully shows that rural citizens from French West Africa, who had a deep knowledge of and had been engaged in gold mining for at least the last millennium, played a significant role in the identification of gold deposits and the valorization of minerals for geological missions, first during the colonial period and later, during the Cold War, amid the African decolonization process.</p> <p>To make her case, D'Avignon first redefines African engagements with gold mining as a form of ritual geology. She posits that ritual geology comprises "a set of practices, prohibitions, and cosmological engagements with the earth that are widely shared and cultivated across a regional geological formation" (p. 5).
{"title":"A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa by Robyn D'Avignon (review)","authors":"Lorena Campuzano Duque","doi":"10.1353/tech.2024.a926342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a926342","url":null,"abstract":"<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa</em> by Robyn D'Avignon <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Lorena Campuzano Duque (bio) </li> </ul> <em>A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa</em> By Robyn D'Avignon. Durham: Duke University Press, 2022. Pp. 328. <p>International organizations and most studies analyzing the historical, political, economic, scientific, and technological aspects of gold mining tend to use a dichotomy between industrialized and artisanal mining that regards artisanal mining as exclusively characterized by nonmechanized manual methods, individual work, and limited gold output for subsistence, while industrial mining is recognized as a fully fledged extractive industry. Robyn D'Avignon's <em>A Ritual Geology</em> challenges this dichotomy through a long-term historical and anthropological study that encompasses the history of gold mining and exploration in West Africa's Birimian Green-stone Belt, which crosses parts of present-day Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and southern Senegal, from 800 to the present.</p> <p>Drawing on more than 150 interviews, archeological studies, and transnational historical sources, D'Avignon's book is one of the first accounts of how Africans contributed not only their strength but also their brains to the mining industry, joining a new but still inchoate literature that highlights the key role of Africans in the production of agricultural, pastoralist, and botanical knowledge. D'Avignon examines both European geological surveys and African engagement with gold deposits, showing the dialectical relationships between the two, which explains why <em>orpaillage</em>, the practice of West African alluvial and vein mining, was quintessential to colonial and independent political, industrial, and social life in the Birimian Greenstone Belt. Moving beyond the conventional narrative of capitalist expansion and <strong>[End Page 718]</strong> labor exploitation, D'Avignon contends that orpaillage developed in conjunction with industrial mining, arguing that African miners in West Africa contributed significantly to the scientific knowledge used by industrial mines. The book successfully shows that rural citizens from French West Africa, who had a deep knowledge of and had been engaged in gold mining for at least the last millennium, played a significant role in the identification of gold deposits and the valorization of minerals for geological missions, first during the colonial period and later, during the Cold War, amid the African decolonization process.</p> <p>To make her case, D'Avignon first redefines African engagements with gold mining as a form of ritual geology. She posits that ritual geology comprises \"a set of practices, prohibitions, and cosmological engagements with the earth that are widely shared and cultivated across a regional geological formation\" (p. 5). ","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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