Anthropology of technology (original) (raw)
The anthropology of technology (AoT) is a unique, diverse, and growing field of study that bears much in common with kindred developments in the sociology and history of technology: first, a growing refusal to view the role of technology in human societies as the irreversible and predetermined consequence of a given technology's putative “inner logic”; and second, a focus on the social and cultural factors that shape a given technology's development and impact in a society. However, AoT defines technology far more broadly than the sociologists and historians of technology.
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| dbo:abstract | The anthropology of technology (AoT) is a unique, diverse, and growing field of study that bears much in common with kindred developments in the sociology and history of technology: first, a growing refusal to view the role of technology in human societies as the irreversible and predetermined consequence of a given technology's putative “inner logic”; and second, a focus on the social and cultural factors that shape a given technology's development and impact in a society. However, AoT defines technology far more broadly than the sociologists and historians of technology. AoT encompasses not only the study of the processes and products of modern science and engineering, but also the techniques of small-scale societies (such as basket-weaving and bow and arrow fabrication), and the technologies of the past recoverable only by archaeology. Methodologically, AoT shares much in common with Science and Technology Studies (STS), typically employing intensive fieldwork methodologies in order to grasp the social and cultural shaping of technological artifacts and systems. These may include a phenomenological approach: how people feel, see, sense, smell, and apprehend through the body as technology is practiced and the products used. AoT also emphasizes bodily skill and know-how; that technology cannot be practiced without the muscle memory that exists beyond the mental learning. Unique to anthropology is the growing influence of AoT theory in archaeology, a development that is raising critical questions regarding long-held theories of cultural evolution. Additionally, AoT scholars often draw inspiration from anthropological concepts and theories that are not well known to STS scholars; an example is Bryan Pfaffenberger's use of Victor Turner's social dramas theory in framing his technological dramas theory. But the overall trend is convergence rather than differentiation, as STS scholars, anthropologists, and historians of technology increasingly traverse disciplinary lines in building a larger and richer perspective on human technological activities. Although most AoT scholars continue to employ the term “technology,” the modern use of the term often connotes the technological products of the modern industrial era. Thus the term is seen by some anthropologists to be inimical to understanding technology's social and cultural dimensions in non-industrial societies. One modern "technomyth" or dominant narrative about information technology is ‘technological determinism’, the belief that the most efficient technique (efficient in terms of the least time, energy, and cost required) will inevitably vanquish its competitors. This has led to calls for the decolonisation of such technomyths, in particular those derived from the Western world, the universalism of which "suggest that a heterogeneous set of global cultural practices have been homogenized." Anthropologists of technology, as they study traditional activities such as pottery manufacture and use, prefer to speak of techniques or skills. Still, as historians and sociologists of modern technologies have conclusively demonstrated, these myths of technological determinism are equally inapplicable to modern science and engineering practices. Many modern technological practices are governed by social preferences rather than pure efficiency; for example, the eclipse of the efficient and practical electric automobile in favor of the gas-powered auto in the early decades of the 20th century. (en) |
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| rdfs:comment | The anthropology of technology (AoT) is a unique, diverse, and growing field of study that bears much in common with kindred developments in the sociology and history of technology: first, a growing refusal to view the role of technology in human societies as the irreversible and predetermined consequence of a given technology's putative “inner logic”; and second, a focus on the social and cultural factors that shape a given technology's development and impact in a society. However, AoT defines technology far more broadly than the sociologists and historians of technology. (en) |
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