Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Technical Knowledge and Its Institutes
- 2 Entrepreneurship, Industry and Technology
- 3 Electrification: The Shaping of a Technology
- 4 Domesticating Electricity
- 5 Assimilation of Technological Ideas
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 April 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Technical Knowledge and Its Institutes
- 2 Entrepreneurship, Industry and Technology
- 3 Electrification: The Shaping of a Technology
- 4 Domesticating Electricity
- 5 Assimilation of Technological Ideas
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
We had an interview with Sir R. Mookerjee…. In his opinion the standard of education in mechanical and electrical engineering up to the ‘Improver Class’ does not need extending, but should be of a very practical nature. He did not think very high training was required as men so trained would not obtain appointments, and he, from a commercial point of view, would much prefer an European to an Indian of similar qualifications when a man with a higher training was wanted.
—E. H. deV. Atkinson and Tom S. Dawson, in a report (1912)In engineering colleges, we found that the engineers that the colleges turned out were only operation and maintenance engineers – none of them was an engineer of a higher type who could undertake work of designing except in civil engineering – say of the Damodar Valley or other river valley projects which we are undertaking. We did not find any place where any research work was being done on the production of machinery or other articles which we very badly need for the reconstruction of the country.
—Meghnad Saha during a Lok Sabha debate in 1952The history of technology in South Asia, as an academic discipline, is witnessing a debate between the significance of ‘big’ technology (railways, canal irrigation, hydraulic dam, and so on) and ‘small everyday technology’ (wristwatch, bicycle, sewing machine, and so on) in understanding its appropriation in the Global South. In this methodological deliberation, the former is linked to imperial politics and the latter to everyday life experiences of the people. The narratives of big technologies coincide with subjugation and ultimately the ‘tools of empire’ thesis, whereas the advocates of ‘everyday technology’ believe that the small technologies mingled with South Asian culture without much contestation. However, for a better understanding of the subject, we need to accommodate both the extremes. This is relevant to discuss a complex question: What is South Asia in science, technology, and innovation on the one hand, and what are science, technology, and innovation in South Asia on the other? Put another way: Can one see South Asians as intellectuals thinking about and making technology based on intellect?
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- Information
- Let there be LightEngineering, Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal, 1880–1945, pp. 244 - 258Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020