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Article ID: CBB172923573

Useful & Reliable: Technological Transformation in Colonial India (April 2021)

Technology and Culture
Volume: 62
Issue: 2
Pages: 494-520

DOI: 10.1353/tech.2021.0055

URI: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/794374

Publication Date: April 2021
Edition Details: Special Issue: Technology Is Global: The Useful and Reliable Knowledge Debate
Language: English

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History of medicine, as a discipline Industrialization Crafts and craftspeople History of science, as a discipline Useful knowledge History of technology, as a discipline Railroads Famines Colonialism India

The proposition that Useful and Reliable Knowledge (URK) produced divergent patterns of long-term economic growth implies that such knowledge had weak agency in countries that fell behind. This article rejects such a theory on the evidence of colonial India. Indo-European contacts activated transfer, transplantation, and adaptation in URK; however, the impact was uneven within India. Despite boosting productivity in manufacturing and consumption, large areas were left untouched. These contrasts highlight the differentiated impact of URK on production conditions in India and question its transferability and mode of knowledge exchange under colonialism.

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Article Dagmar Schäfer; Simona Valeriani (April 2021) Technology Is Global: The Useful & Reliable Knowledge Debate. Technology and Culture (pp. 327-347). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB172923573/

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