Article ID: CBB075981875

Transfer or Translation? Rethinking Traveling Technologies from the Global South (2023)

unapi

Technology flows are becoming increasingly diverse in the twenty-first century, calling for an update of concepts and frameworks. Reflecting on the inherent tensions of technology transfer, including its technocratic dreams, insensitivity to technological materiality, and narrow focus on certain human actors, we propose technology translation as a complementary conceptual framework to understand traveling technologies. Taking a socio-technical approach, technology translation views artifacts as socially shaped with distributed agency, which makes technology flows unstable and unpredictable. In so doing, we develop a typology to explain five technology flow scenarios, shedding new light on the mechanisms of technology traveling by foregrounding the role of translators. Last, we discuss the politics of translation and elaborate how technology translation opens new space to engage with the complexity and uncertainty of technology flows, especially in the Global South.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB075981875/

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Authors & Contributors
Dray, Mina Kleiche
Hård, Mikael
Jasanoff, Sheila
Jensen, Casper Bruun
Law, John
Lin, Wen-yuan
Journals
Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society
Science, Technology, and Human Values
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Social Studies of Science
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Engineering Studies
Publishers
Springer Nature
Concepts
Science and technology studies (STS)
Global south
Diffusion of innovation; diffusion of knowledge; diffusion of technology
Technology transfer
Typology (theory)
Methodology
People
Bloor, David
Law, John
Lin, Wen-yuan
Laplace, Georges
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
Enlightenment
Places
Latin America
East Asia
Africa
Brazil
Mexico
European Union
Institutions
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
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