ABSTRACT
This volume studies the concept and relevance of HISTEM (History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine) in shaping the histories of colonial and postcolonial South Asia. Tracing its evolution from the establishment of the East India Company through to the early decades after the Independence of India, it highlights the ways in which the discipline has changed over the years and examines the various influences that have shaped it. Drawing on extensive case studies, the book offers valuable insights into diverse themes such as the East–West encounter, appropriation of new knowledge, science in translation and communication, electricity and urbanization, the colonial context of engineering education, science of hydrology, oil and imperialism, epidemic and empire, vernacular medicine, gender and medicine, as well as environment and sustainable development in the colonial and postcolonial milieu.
An indispensable text on South Asia’s experience of modernity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of modern South Asian studies, modern Indian history, sociology, history of science, cultural studies, colonialism, as well as studies on Science, Technology, and Society (STS).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
section Section I|69 pages
Science and society
chapter 2|20 pages
Examining the foundations of science
chapter 4|17 pages
Cultural politics of engagement
section Section II|76 pages
Technology and culture
chapter 6|18 pages
Academic engineering and India's colonial encounter
chapter 7|18 pages
Of geologists and water-diviners
chapter 8|16 pages
From battlefields to homes
section Section III|60 pages
Environmental issues
section Section IV|74 pages
Medical encounters