Engineers of happy land : technology and nationalism in a colony / Rudolf Mrázek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mrázek, Rudolf, author.

Series:

Princeton studies in culture/power/history.

Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--Indonesia--History--20th century.

Nationalism.

Nationalism and technology--Indonesia.

Nationalism and technology.

Technology--Social aspects--Indonesia.

Technology.

Indonesia--Civilization--20th century.

Indonesia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2002]

Summary:

Based on close reading of historical documents--poetry as much as statistics--and focused on the conceptualization of technology, this book is an unconventional evocation of late colonial Netherlands East Indies (today Indonesia). In considering technology and the ways that people use and think about things, Rudolf Mrázek invents an original way to talk about freedom, colonialism, nationalism, literature, revolution, and human nature. The central chapters comprise vignettes and take up, in turn, transportation (from shoes to road-building to motorcycle clubs), architecture (from prison construction to home air-conditioning), optical technologies (from photography to fingerprinting), clothing and fashion, and the introduction of radio and radio stations. The text clusters around a group of fascinating recurring characters representing colonialism, nationalism, and the awkward, inevitable presence of the European cultural, intellectual, and political avant-garde: Tillema, the pharmacist-author of Kromoblanda; the explorer/engineer IJzerman; the "Javanese princess" Kartina; the Indonesia nationalist journalist Mas Marco; the Dutch novelist Couperus; the Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer; and Dutch left-wing liberal Wim Wertheim and his wife. In colonial Indies, as elsewhere, people employed what Proust called "remembering" and what Heidegger called "thinging" to sense and make sense of the world. In using this observation to approach Indonesian society, Mrázek captures that society off balance, allowing us to see it in unfamiliar positions. The result is a singular work with surprises for readers throughout the social sciences, not least those interested in Southeast Asia or colonialism more broadly.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

ONE. Language as Asphalt

TWO. Towers

THREE. From Darkness to Light

FOUR. Indonesian Dandy

FIVE. Let Us Become Radio Mechanics

EPILOGUE. Only the Deaf Can Hear Well

NOTES

SOURCES

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

0-691-18693-6

OCLC:

1132221638