This group aims to illuminate core problems in the history of modern science through the lens of the Chinese and Indian cases, going beyond more usual East-West comparisons in this domain. A rigorous historical study promises to bring thereby to light how modern science has developed, or been refracted and transformed, in different contexts outside the Western mainstream.
Main coordinator: Jahnavi Phalkey, King’s College London
Science and Technology in Twentieth Century China and India
This group aims to illuminate core problems in the history of modern science through the lens of the Chinese and Indian cases. A rigorous historical study promises to bring thereby to light how modern science has developed, or been refracted and transformed, in different contexts outside the Western mainstream. The comparative focus on China and India goes beyond more usual East-West comparisons in this research arena.
Participants
The following scholars are participating in that focus group (non exhaustive list):
- Arunabh GHOSH (Columbia University),
- Asif SIDDIQI (Fordham University),
- Elena SONGSTER (St. Mary’s University of California),
- Fa-ti FAN (Binghamton University - State University of New York),
- Jahnavi PHALKEY (King’s College London),
- Michael LEWIS (Salisbury University),
- Tong LAM (University of Toronto),
- Zuoyue WANG (California State University),
- Madhumita SAHA (Appalachian State University),
- Sigrid SCHMALZER (University of Massachusetts)...
First intersections workshop - York University, April 8-10, 2011
This first Intersections workshop was a three-day collaborative experiment that brought together scholars from Canada, the United States, India, and Great Britain in attempt to bridge the history and anthropology of science and technology in China and India.
Participants were asked to formulate potential research projects and evaluate the state of the field. Our goal was to produce—together—new work on China and India that would not only advance the history of science in those areas, but challenge the methods and assumptions of the broader field.
Workshop events were designed to build connections between scholars from diverse backgrounds and establish common ground for a long-term research community. Participants alternated between large group discussions about problems and resources, theoretical and methodological issues, and objectives, and small group activities designed to help teams formulate concrete research projects. Participants joined a public lecture by Victoria Marshall, from New York University’s India-China Institute..
Second intersections worshop - King’s India Institute, King’s College London, April 12-14, 2012
The two main goals of this workshop were to think collectively about the framework of our collaboration, and to decide on the products of this collaboration. Towards our framework, we intensively discussed two questions: (1) what is the narrative of twentieth century history of science? Where are India and China in it? And (2) what is the narrative of twentieth century India and China? Where are science and technology in it?
Jon Agar (University College London and author of Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Polity, 2012) joined the discussions.
Third intersections workshop - Beijing, June 29-30, 2013
Jahnavi PHALKEY, from King’s College London, and Tong LAM, from York University (Toronto, Canada) are organizing the third workshop "Intersections: New Perspectives on Science and Technology in the 20th-century India and China", which will take place at Tsinghua University on 29th and 30th of June 2013, in Beijing.
Fourth intersections workshop - Bangalore, May 22-25, 2015
Jahnavi PHALKEY, from King’s College London, and Tong LAM, from University of Toronto are organizing the fourth workshop "Intersections: New Perspectives on Science and Technology in the 20th-century India and China", which will take place at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, on May 22nd to 25th, in Bangalore. - Bangalore, du 22 au 25 mai 2015
Selected publications for this focus area
"Science of giants: China and India in the twentieth century", edited by Jahnavi Phalkey and Tong Lam, BJHS Themes, Vol. 1, 2016.
