Microhistories of Technology

The title of this book, Microhistories of Technology, is deliberate in its plurality and in its reference to being a collection of singular stories. These microhistories were crafted with the aim of unraveling the peculiarities of each regional technological landscape; at the center of each story are the specific knowledge and skills inherent in each local material culture. For example, inhabitants in Northern India employ various technologies, which may be called indigenous or imported, Western or Eastern, modern or traditional. Within this range of possibilities, the combination of solutions each group uses is place- and time-specific; in every case, the user's world is singular.

I chose the subtitle of this book to suggest its connection with Consumers, Tinkerers, Rebels: The People Who Shaped Europe, a book I coauthored with Ruth Oldenziel and published in 2013-as part of the Palgrave Macmillan book series Making Europe: Technology and Transformations, 1850-2000. In contrast to that book and my earlier works, this volume focuses on the interactions of individuals and groups with technology in the Global South, as well as in Central and East Asia. I highlight the practices, struggles, and aspirations of peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I also apprise readers of the many myths and prejudices typically associated with imperial powers, globalizing forces, and development policies. In doing so, I hope to expand on the new body of literature that examines technology's complex and nuanced role in the modern world. My goal—and indeed the goal of the Global-HoT team—is to inspire readers to rethink the relationship between Western and non- Western material culture.