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Article ID: CBB697083355

Global circulation of low-end expertise: Knowledge, hierarchy, and labor migration in a Burmese oilfield (2023)

Chao Ren (Author)

History of Science
Volume: 61
Issue: 4
Pages: 561-587
Publication date: 2023
Language: English

DOI: 10.1177/00732753231189442

URI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00732753231189442

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Knowledge circulation Expertise Labor and laborers Great Britain, colonies Oil; natural gas 20th century, early Myanmar (Burma)

This article examines the phenomenon of the “global circulation of low-end expertise” through an exploration of the social dynamics surrounding American oil drillers who migrated from the Pennsylvania oil region to British colonial Burma during the early 1900s to the mid-1930s. These working-class drillers, with practical knowledge in oil drilling acquired through familial and community networks, played a crucial role in operating mechanized oil wells and providing geological expertise in colonial Burma. Positioned between labor-intensive agricultural economies in colonial Asia and the higher echelons of British colonial society, these drillers occupied an intermediate social location. Despite their indispensable expertise, they were marginalized due to their lower social standing, leading to their expertise being disregarded by their superiors and forgotten over time. By understanding the complexities of the “global circulation of low-end expertise,” this study sheds light on the social construction and erasure of the expertise held by these working-class drillers, revealing overlooked aspects of global histories of science and labor and highlighting the need to reassess dominant historical narratives on knowledge-labor.

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Article Lissa Roberts; Seth Rockman; Alexandra Hui (2023) Science and/as work: An introduction to this special issue. History of Science (pp. 439-447). unapi

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