Microhistories of Technology: Making the World (Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology)

In this open access book, Mikael Hård tells a story of how people around the world challenged the production techniques and products brought by globalization. Retaining their autonomy and freedom, creative individuals selectively adopted or rejected modern gadgets, tools, and machines. In standard historical narratives, globalization is portrayed as an unstoppable force that flattens all obstacles in its path. Modern technology is also seen as inexorable: in the nineteenth century, steamships, telegraph lines, and Gatling guns are said to have paved the way for colonialism and other forms of dominating people and societies. Later, shipping containers and computer networks purportedly pulled the planet deeper into a maelstrom of capitalism. Hård discusses instances that push back against these narratives. For example, in Soviet times, inhabitants of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, preferred to remain in―and expand―their own mud-brick houses rather than move into prefabricated, concrete residential buildings. Similarly, nineteenth-century Sumatran carpenters ignored the saws brought to them by missionaries―and chose to chop down trees with their arch-bladed adzes. And people in colonial India successfully competed with capitalist-run Caribbean sugar plantations, continuing to produce their own muscovado and sell it to local consumers. This book invites readers to view the history of technology and material culture through the lens of diversity. Based on research funded by the European Research Council and conducted in the Global South, Microhistories of Technology: Making the World shows that the spread of modern technologies did not erase artisanal production methods and traditional tools. Preface Acknowledgments Book Abstract Contents About the Author Chapter 1: Introduction: Honing Local Techniques in a Globalized World Coexistence and Culture Reclaiming the Term Technology Protagonists and Sources Part I: Nineteenth-Century Ways of Life Chapter 2: Building Missionary Stations in Southeast Asia: Nias Islanders Deploy Adzes Pioneers and “Martyrs” Building Styles Intersect Preparing the Site, Beginning to Build Working Together Information Exchange Appropriating Local Foods Chapter 3: Communicating and Trading in West Africa: Talking Drums and Pack Animals Talking Drums as a “Technology” The Talking Drum as Tradition The Drum as Artifact Large Technological Systems in Colonized Spaces Transportation Networks in West Africa Trade and Commerce Manufacturing Textiles, Searching for Gold Cultivating the Land The Technological Landscape, Revisited Chapter 4: Withstanding Globalization in Northern India: Farmers Make Sugar for Local Consumption A Familiar History of Sugar An Alternative History of Sugar The Improvement Discourse Piecemeal Change Factory Sugar Intermediate Technology Part II: Twentieth-Century Improvisations Chapter 5: Accessing Electricity in East Africa: Dar es Salaam Dwellers Pursue Power Who Gets Electricity? When Electricity Signaled Power Power Disputes: The Electricity Department Versus Customers Electricity Provision: To Privatize or Keep Public Colonies and the Myth of “Development” Access to Electricity as an “Amenity” Chapter 6: Creating “Creole” Cuisine in Latin America: Home Cooks Reinvent Batánes The Making of “Creole” Traditions Eclectic Cooking National or Criollo Desserts The Modern Kitchen Promoting Modern Cooking Latin America and the Multicultural Kitchen Part III: Postwar Innovations Chapter 7: Earning a Living in Urban Africa: Maintaining the “Native Beer” Economy The Stereotype of the “Slum” Redefining the “Slum” Ndururu as a Flexible Settlement Making and Selling Pombe and Chang’aa Another Contested Commodity: Meat The Shift from Cooperative to Company Status The Paradox of the “Uncontrolled Settlement” “Self-help” and “Site-and-Services” The Paradox of the “Transitional Urban Sector” From Informal to Flexible Settlements Chapter 8: Confronting Menstruation in East Asia: Koreans Create Self-made Solutions Industrialization and the Taboo of Menstruation A US-Style Consumer Culture in South Korea? Techniques for Self-made Sanitary Pads Mass-Produced Pads: A Hard Sell Freedom to Consume Resisting “The American Empire” Chapter 9: Doing It Yourself in Central Asia: Uzbeks Build Adobe Houses State Power and Beyond The Persistence of the Neighborhood Community Construction Materials and Climate in Central Asia Between Hashar and Subbotnik Repair and Maintenance Doing It Together: Cooperation and Collectivity Making the Comfortable Home The “Private Initiative” for Home Improvement Chapter 10: Conclusion: Challenging Globalizing Technologies Symmetry and Heterogeneity Globalization Revisited Bibliography Archives Interviews Sources and Literature Index In this open access book, Mikael Hard tells a story of how people around the world challenged the production techniques and products brought by globalization. Retaining their autonomy and freedom, creative individuals selectively adopted or rejected modern gadgets, tools, and machines. In standard historical narratives, globalization is portrayed as an unstoppable force that flattens all obstacles in its path. Modern technology is also seen as inexorable: in the nineteenth century, steamships, telegraph lines, and Gatling guns are said to have paved the way for colonialism and other forms of dominating people and societies. Later, shipping containers and computer networks purportedly pulled the planet deeper into a maelstrom of capitalism. Hard discusses instances that push back against these narratives. For example, in Soviet times, inhabitants of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, preferred to remain inand expandtheir own mud-brick houses rather than move into prefabricated, concrete residential buildings. Similarly, nineteenth-century Sumatran carpenters ignored the saws brought to them by missionariesand chose to chop down trees with their arch-bladed adzes. And people in colonial India successfully competed with capitalist-run Caribbean sugar plantations, continuing to produce their own muscovado and sell it to local consumers. This book invites readers to view the history of technology and material culture through the lens of diversity. Based on research funded by the European Research Council and conducted in the Global South, Microhistories of Technology: Making the World shows that the spread of modern technologies did not erase artisanal production methods and traditional tools