A Moral Technology : Electrification as Political Ritual in New Delhi / Leo Coleman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coleman, Leo, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--Anthropological aspects--India--New Delhi.

Political science.

Technology--Anthropological aspects--India--New Delhi.

Technology.

Technology and state--India--New Delhi.

Technology and state.

Electric utilities--Political aspects--India--New Delhi.

Electric utilities.

Electrification--Political aspects--India--New Delhi.

Electrification.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In India over the past century, electrification has meant many things: it has been a colonial gift of modern technology, a tool of national integration and political communication, and a means of gauging the country's participation in globalization. Electric lights have marked out places of power, and massive infrastructures have been installed in hopes of realizing political promises. In A Moral Technology, the grids and wires of an urban public utility are revealed to be not only material goods but also objects of intense moral concern. Leo Coleman offers a distinctive anthropological approach to electrification in New Delhi as more than just an economic or industrial process, or a "gridding" of social and political relations. It may be understood instead as a ritual action that has formed modern urban communities and people's sense of citizenship, and structured debates over state power and political legitimacy.Coleman explores three historical and ethnographic case studies from the founding of New Delhi as an imperial capital city, to its reshaping as a national capital for post-independence India, up to its recent emergence as a contemporary global city. These case studies closely describe technological politics, rituals, and legal reforms at key moments of political change in India, and together they support Coleman's argument that ritual performances, moral judgments, and technological installations combine to shape modern state power, civic life, and political community.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I. Imperial Installations

1. The Machinery of Government

2. Ritual Center and Divided City

Part II. National Grids

3. The Lifeblood of the Nation

4. Broadcast Mantras

Part III. Urban Transformations

5. The Life of Property

6. A Model Colony

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781501707520

1501707523

9781501707919

1501707914

OCLC:

960642065