ABSTRACT
In recent centuries European culture, in its scientific manifestation, has treated technology as a series of physical or chemical processes that can be predicted and controlled through the application of materialist, causal theories. While this approach is useful in the understanding of technology in scientific terms, it is less useful when it is employed as a method for understanding productive processes in societies that do not employ European scientific concepts. The problem with the scientific approach in the latter context is that it leads the analyst to divide the activities that occur during the production of an item into ‘technological’ acts and ‘magical’ or symbolic’ acts. However, activities are rarely, if ever, divided into these two categories by the participants. Rather, they perceive all the acts that occur during the productive process as essential for a successful outcome (see Rowlands & Warnier, Ch. 32, this volume).
