Anthropology of Technology

Netzwerk, Organisation, Panne. Moralökonomische Analysen zur Krise der Gepäckabfertigung an zwei europäischen Flughäfen <2007>

by Joerg Potthast

book chapter

ed. Stefan Kaufmann, Vernetzte Steuerung. Zürich: Chronos, 109-129

The formal organization is often referred to as "the skeleton of a company" set up to handle easily... more The formal organization is often referred to as "the skeleton of a company" set up to handle easily anticipated problems but failing to cope with unexpected problems. According to a common understanding, informal networks compensate for this organizational failure. Surprisingly, the way formal organizational procedures and informal networks are linked to each other has rarely been theorized. Moreover, reticular practices and the way they cope with situations of uncertainty are often accounted for in negative terms only (i.e. the absence of formal organization). Therefore, the question of how organizations respond to critical situations needs to be rethought. Replacing a simple mechanistic model of how formal and informal responses to critical situations are linked, a hypothesis of interference is spelt out. As situations of uncertainty are not governed exclusively in a network mode, the emphasis is put on coexisting and conflicting patterns of responses to breakdowns. To detect these conflicts, two sets of practices may be distinguished: While a first process of inquiry is directed towards what caused the breakdown, simultaneously a second process of inquiry reframes the situation in terms of responsibility. What caused the failure – and who is to blame for it? To test and exemplify the interference or twin process hypothesis the paper will draw on two case studies on the serious baggage crisis airport operators faced when they adopted a hub and spoke operational scheme.

Recensión crítica de "Tim Ingold: The Perception of the Environment: Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill"

by Tomás Sánchez Criado

2009. AIBR. Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana, 4(1), 142-158

Recensión crítica de "Tim Ingold: The Perception of the Environment: Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill"

by Tomás Sánchez Criado

2009. AIBR. Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana, 4(1), 142-158

Investigating social aspects of technical processes: cloth production from plant fibres in a Neolithic lake dwelling on Lake Constance, Germany.

by Susanna Harris

Published in 'Plant processing from a prehistoric and ethnographic perspective. Proceedings of the workshop at the Ghent University ( Belgium), November 28, 2006'. 2007, V. Beugnier and P. Crombé eds. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1718. pp.83-100.

Plants were an important source of raw materials for many types of cloth in Europe during the Neolithic. On the basis... more Plants were an important source of raw materials for many types of cloth in Europe during the Neolithic. On the basis of evidence from waterlogged sites, the most significant t raw materials were flax and tree bast, which were used to create woven textiles, twined cloth and netting. Looking towards the investigation of cloth in social anthropology, I propose that issues of time and place are a significant aspect of the social context of cloth.  The aim of this paper is to investigate these issues in relation to processing cloth from plants, through a case study of the Neolithic lake dwelling of Hornstaad Hörnle IA on Lake Constance, Germany, dated ca 3900 BC. Building on recent research into the way these cloth types were processed and constructed in the Neolithic, I use the evidence of Hornstaad Hörnle IA to consider the location of these tasks in the home, village and wider landscape, as temporal aspects carried out daily, seasonally or over a number of years and in relation to the lives of members of the village. Through this I hope to show how the methods of processing cloth were not only a technical solution to satisfy the need for various types of cloth, but were part of the way that people’s lives were created and made meaningful.

Shaping kabambian pottery: Identification and definition of technical features

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Preliminary Results of Fieldwork Done by the Ceramic and Society Project in Cameroon, December 1995–March 1996

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Pottery Tradition in Katanga (DRC). A Comparative Examination of Roughing-out Technologies.

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Livingstone Smith, Alexandre. "Pottery Tradition in Katanga (DRC). A Comparative Examination of Roughing-out Technologies." Anthropos 105, no. 1 (2010): 179-90.

Abstract. − The results of a recent ethno-archaeological fieldwork on pottery making in Katanga (DRC) are presented in... more Abstract. − The results of a recent ethno-archaeological fieldwork on pottery making in Katanga (DRC) are presented in this title. This work is part of a project where the spatial and temporal distributions of practices are used as a methodological interface between archaeology and linguistics and is an essential step in the comparison of past and present pottery traditions in the area. Observations concerning the whole manufacturing process are reported with a specific focus on the initial phase of the building process: roughing-out or primary shaping. New data are discussed in the light of previous enquiries and the existence of technical boundaries in Katanga is suggested. [Ethno-archaeology, pottery technology, identity, roughing-out, shaping, Luba, Sanga, Bemba]

We Have ALWAYS Been Modern: Modernity, Communication, & Social Organization in the Information Age

by Bryan Anthony Alvarez

In this paper I would like to argue that this technological development is very important as it is a break away from... more In this paper I would like to argue that this technological development is very important as it is a break away from the thousands of years of past human development of technology and culture.  This is not to say that we have rendered the past useless, but rather that we have utilized the techno-cultural information passed on over the generations in new and exciting ways.  This, I would argue, is due to the affect technological revolutions have on social structure in a general sense, and the development of the computer as a social device in a more specific context.  To look at technology from an Anthropological perspective is to look at the interaction between the techno-cultural system and the people that give it meaning.  Using the current as well as previous technological revolutions, I intend to show how the great technological leaps change how people and cultures coordinate themselves through a form of “modernization” and by doing so change the means of communication and interaction in a variety of culturally specific ways. 

The Social Anthropology of Technological Development

by Bryan Anthony Alvarez

The development of human learning abilities has been changed over the past 60 years of technological innovation... more The development of human learning abilities has been changed over the past 60 years of technological innovation starting from the widespread use of the radio, through television, and finally to the mass implementation of computers and information and communication technologies (ICT).  This seems to be partially due to the growing functionality of digital technology and the inability to pass on culturally skills from generation to generation.  In this paper, I intend on tracing the changing pattern of technological variation through the lens of anthropology, how this is reflected in schools, the changing role of education and how this is changing the way we learn and experience the world around us.  The development of technology not only affects the scientific world but also every aspect of social life as well. 

Chapter Eight - Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstruction and Interpretation

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Livingstone Smith, Alexandre. "Chapter Eight - Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstruction and Interpretation." In Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Lybian Sahara, edited by Elena Garcea, 113-52. Firenze: Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio, 2001.

Section 2, Archaeometry: Colloque/Symposium 2.1, Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstitution and Interpretation

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

BAR S1349 2005: Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001 2 Pottery... more BAR S1349 2005: Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001 2 Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstitution and Interpretation Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001, Colloque/Symposium 2.1 edited by Alexandre Livingstone Smith, Dominique Bosquet and Rémi Martineau. ISBN 1841716952. £35.00. 228 pages; illustrated throughout with figures, maps, plans, tables and plates. In English and French.

Symposium 2.1 (Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstitution and Interpretation) from the 14th UISPP Conference held in Liège, Belgium, 2001. Contents: 1) Linking Society with the Compositional Analyses of Pottery (Dean Arnold); 2) Transactional Politics and the Local and Regional Exchange of Pottery Resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Brenda Bowser); 3) The Source. Clay Selection and Processing Practices in Sub-Saharian Africa (Olivier Gosselain and Alexandre Livingstone Smith); 4) Variabilité technique et identité culturelle: un cas d’étude ethnoarchéologique en Andhra Pradesh (Laure Degoy); 5) Cultural Contacts and Technical Heritage in Senegambia (Moustapha Sall); 6) Reconnaissance des techniques et des méthodes de façonnage par l’analyse des macrotraces: étude ethnoarchéologique dans la vallée du Sénégal (Agnès Gelbert); 7) Utilisation du dégraissant végétal en contexte néolithique: hypothèses technologiques et Expérimentation (Claude Sestier); 8) Use of Image Analysis in Determining Multi-Source Ceramic Materials (Bruce Velde); 9) La chaîne opératoire de la céramique rubanée: première tentative de reconstitution (Dominique Bosquet et al.); 10) Techno-Functional Aspects of a Middle Neolithic Pottery Assemblage (Spiere “De Hel”, Belgium)(Bart Vanmontfort); 11) Techniques de fabrication de céramiques du Néolithique moyen I en Armorique (France)(Gwenaëlle Hamon et al.); 12) Exemples de reconstitutions des chaînes opératoires des poteries du Néolithique Moyen II dans la moitié nord de la France (Caroline Colas); 13) Identification of the Beater and Anvil Technique in Neolithic Context : Experimental Approach (Rémi Martineau); 14) Matériaux et types céramiques à Saint-Blaise, station néolithique suisse (2770-2626 av. J.-C.). Poterie exogène et production locale (Simonpietro di Pierro et al.); 15) Perception stylistique et technologie céramique : reconstitution et interprétation des techniques de façonnage des poteries archéologiques de Koumbi Saleh (Mauritanie, IX ème -XV ème siècles)(Barbara van Dooselaere); 16) Identifying Social Entities at a Macro-Regional Level: Chalcolithic Ceramics of South Levant as a Case Study (Valentine Roux et Marie-Agnès Courty); 17) Comparing Chaînes Opératoires : Technological, Cultural and Chronological Features of Pre-Pastoral and Pastoral Ceramic and Lithic Production (Elena Garcea).

The Source. Clay Selection and Processing Practices in Sub-Saharian Africa

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Gosselain, Olivier P., and Alexandre Livingstone Smith. "The Source. Clay Selection and Processing Practices in Sub-Saharian Africa." In Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstruction and Interpretation (Acts of the Xivth Uispp Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001, Colloque/Symposium 2.1), edited by Alexandre Livingstone Smith, Dominique Bosquet and Rémy Martineau, 33-47. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2005.

Bonfire 2: The Return of Pottery Firing Temperatures

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Livingstone Smith, Alexandre. "Bonfire 2: The Return of Pottery Firing Temperatures." Journal of Archaeological Science 28, no. 9 (2001): 991-1003.

The ceramics and society project: An ethnographic and experimental approach to technological choices

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Gosselain, Olivier P., and Alexandre Livingstone Smith. "The 'Ceramic and Society Project': An Ethnographic and Experimental Approach to Technological Style." In The Aim of Laboratory Analysis in Archaeology, edited by Anders Lindhal and Ole Stilborg, 147-60. Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1997.

The "Crossing borders Project": Pottery traditions in Katanga

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Co-authored with Anneleen Van der Veken in Afrique Art Archéologie 2009

Reconstitution de la chaîne opératoire de la poterie: Bilan et perspectives en Afrique sub-saharienne

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Reconstitution de la chaîne opératoire de la poterie

Alexandre Livingstone-Smith

L'analyse de la... more Reconstitution de la chaîne opératoire de la poterie

Alexandre Livingstone-Smith

L'analyse de la chaîne opératoire de la poterie a connu un développement important depuis la fin des années '80. Pourtant, malgré l'importance du sujet et le nombre de publications, ce domaine connaît encore de nombreux problèmes en archéologie (méconnaissance technique, développement inégal de la recherche pour les différentes étapes de la chaîne opératoire, disparité terminologique, etc.). Dans cet article je propose de faire un bref bilan de l'évolution de la discipline et de passer en revue la contribution des études africaines à ce champ de recherche.

Chaîne opératoire de la poterie: Références ethnographiques, analyses et reconstitution

by Alexandre Livingstone Smith

Livingstone Smith, Alexandre. "Chaîne Opératoire de la Poterie: Références Ethnographiques, Analyses et Reconstitution." PhD Thesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2001.

The techne of making a ferry: a non-representational approach to passengers’ gathering taskscapes

by Phillip Vannini

Published in the Journal of Transport Geography

Drawing upon ethnographic data collected in British Columbia’s ferry-dependent island and coastal communities,... more Drawing upon ethnographic data collected in British Columbia’s ferry-dependent island and coastal communities, non-representational theory, and mobility studies literature this article examines the process of making, or catching, a ferry. Making a ferry is conceptualized as a form of gathering, and as a phase of the wider performance of travel by ferry boat. Gathering for a ferry sailing before its scheduled departure—data show—is a complex taskscape. Passengers keen on making a ferry employ reflexive, adaptive, orientation skills, weaving artful journeys to the ferry terminal in order to make a specific sailing. Analysis shows how passengers’ work is a creative performance.

Prototyping: a sociology in abeyance

by Adolfo Estalella

Co-autored with Alberto Corsín Jiménez (http://csic.academia.edu/AlbertoCorsinJimenez)

Could we speak of a saint as a prototype for a religious movement or of a clue as a prototype for a crime?
more Could we speak of a saint as a prototype for a religious movement or of a clue as a prototype for a crime?

Writing in the early 20th century, philosopher Max Scheler thought that heroes, saints and geniuses played a prototypical role for larger models of social organisation.[1] Scheler was interested in the distribution of ethical values across societies. Insofar as a saint was a role model for society, his character and charisma would indeed count as prototypical of certain value structures. The prototype carried a combined sociology of leadership and organisation. It released charismatic and transcendental values of significance for society as a whole. It spilled-over or ‘externalised’, as today’s economists might put it, ethical goodies. The prototype as a public good.[2]

A More Critical Approach to Our Toilets and Technologies

by Donnie Maclurcan

This article was co-written with Andre Radan.