CfP: "Technologies of Knowledge in the Global South" February 28, 2018

Technologies of Knowledge in the Global South
This edited volume interrogates the technologies of knowledge and its impact in structuring lives in the Global South as shaped through the common experience of empire and imperialism, colonialism and post colonialism. This volume enquires into technology as a mode of knowledge production and also draws upon the use of technology in the colonial context where it not only functioned as an element of imperial domination but was also appropriated in the everyday lives of people. Additionally, explicit engagement with technology in the form of census, surveys, transportation, medicine and public health measures brought the colonial population to face with massive state ventures as a mode of governance. In equal measure, technology was also invoked in the production of culture and historicizing, commemorating and preserving the past through archaeological excavation, architectural preservation and the maintenance of heritage sites.
The influence of technology, in its myriad forms, is inescapable and scholars have argued over the nature of its influence, oftentimes invoking it in relation to colonialism/imperialism and its power, but also as an indicator of the Global South’s encounter with modernity. Recognizing the location of power as exercised through the production of knowledge, this volume is not going to be a text on knowledge production or an exercise in inquiring the category of “colonial knowledge.” We seek to move beyond it to maintain that recognizing the indispensable role of technology in shaping our past, requires that we reconceptualize our engagement with the archive of history. Identifying the multiple sources of knowledge as produced through technological intervention is an initial step to recognizing the sites of power and the modes of dominance and resistance.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
  • Heritage sites, museums
  • Archaeology
  • Census, Maps, Surveys
  • Towns, Cities, Urban Spaces
  • Gender/Caste/Race politics
  • Visual and Aural Media (photography, theater, cinema etc.)
  • Medicine and Medical technology
  • Small-scale local industries and businesses etc.
  • Transportation 
  • Law, jurisprudence
  • Radio, Internet, Mobile technology
  • Vaccinations, Public health measures 
  • Media/communication
Submission Deadlines:
Authors are invited to submit original and unpublished papers to our edited volume on “Technologies of Knowledge.” Submitted papers may not have appeared in or be under consideration for another journal, nor may they be under review or submitted to another press during the review process. Please note that accepted papers will likely be between 6000-8000 words.
  • A chapter title and brief summary (approximately 350 words): Due by February 28, 2018. Please also submit a short CV describing your academic credentials.
  • Completed chapters/papers: Due by December 2018. 
Contact Info: 
Dr. Aryendra Chakravartty (Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas)
Dr. Samiparna Samanta (O. P Jindal Global University, Jindal Global Law School, NCR of India)
Please send your abstracts to: knowledge.technology2018@gmail.com