| Description |
1 online resource (297 pages) |
| Series |
Palgrave studies in the history of science and technology |
|
Palgrave studies in the history of science and technology.
|
| Access |
Open access. GW5XE |
| Contents |
1. Introduction: Honing Local Techniques in a Globalized World -- Part I Nineteenth-Century Ways of Life -- 2. Building Missionary Stations in Southeast Asia: Nias Islanders Deploy Adzes -- 3. Communicating and Trading in West Africa: Talking Drums and Pack Animals -- 4. Withstanding Globalization in Northern India: Farmers Make Sugar for Local Consumption -- Part II Twentieth-Century Improvisations -- 5. Accessing Electricity in East Africa: Dar es Salaam Dwellers Pursue Power -- 6. Creating "Creole" Cuisine in Latin America: Home Cooks Reinvent Batnes -- Part III Postwar Innovations -- 7. Earning a Living in Urban Africa: Maintaining the Native Beer Economy -- 8. Confronting Menstruation in East Asia: Koreans Create Self-made Solutions -- 9. Doing It Yourself in Central Asia: Uzbeks Build Adobe Houses -- 10. Conclusion: Challenging Globalizing Technologies. |
| Summary |
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. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Note |
Print version record. |
| Local Note |
Springer Nature Springer Nature - SpringerLink eBooks - Fully Open Access |
| Subject |
Technological innovations -- History.
|
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Technological innovations -- Social aspects.
|
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Progress -- History.
|
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Globalization.
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globalism.
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Globalization
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Progress
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Technological innovations
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Technological innovations -- Social aspects
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: HARD, MIKAEL. MICROHISTORIES OF TECHNOLOGY. [Place of publication not identified] : PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2023 3031228154 (OCoLC)1350801736 |
| ISBN |
9783031228131 (electronic bk.) |
|
3031228138 (electronic bk.) |
|
9783031228155 |
|
9783031228124 |
|
3031228154 |
| Standard No. |
10.1007/978-3-031-22813-1 doi |
|
