Introduction: Technologies and the transformation of economies

Abstract

In April 2015, the Society of Economic Anthropology held its annual conference, hosted at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, to discuss the theme "Technologies and the Transformation of Economies." The articles in this volume examine the multifaceted relationship between people and technology across different societies and at different periods in the history of social and economic transformations. This introduction to the volume (1) contextualizes the conference and frames the discussion of social transformations and technology within the larger debates on people and technology, (2) introduces the different articles from archaeology and ethnography that may potentially contribute to the scholarly debates on people and technology within anthropology and related social sciences, and (3) suggests new areas for future research on people and technology.In the realm of technology, co-extensive with the whole of history, there is no single onward movement, but many actions and reactions, many changes of gear. It is not a linear process. -Braudel (1992:334) From food foraging technologies to farming communities seeking cell phone-based climate forecasting, to booms and busts of Silicon Valley and the digital age, technology has been ever present in human economic life, past and present. From early iron forging to ceramic monetary systems, to recent currency creations such as Bitcoin, technology has transformed human economies. Technology, whether prehistoric inventions such as pottery and the wheel or twenty-first-century wireless communication, intersects with social and economic life and transforms human experience (Carey 1989; Ilahiane and Sherry 2012).In the ancient world, technological innovations were linked to sedentism, cereal domestication, and the intensification of agriculture to feed growing populations; they permitted the extension of trade routes; and they expedited the extraction and transformation of mineral resources. In many instances, technological transformations made the impossible possible, allowing for the effects of climate and geography to be mitigated for the purposes of food production, occupational specialization, and the transport of finely crafted exotics in support of class-based hierarchies. The Early Modern Atlantic World itself was the product of technological innovations spurred by economic competition between world empires. In the subsequent Industrial Age, the connections between technology and economic expansion intensified, contributing to a scale of socioeconomic inequality not previously seen.Without doubt, social-cultural life, whether in the present digital age or in past mechanical eras, is marked by a rapid speed of technical innovation, and societies eventually take advances for granted and create normative conditions for their use. Consequently, the key for anthropology is to investigate these nascent technologies before they become "rapidly mundane" (Horst and Miller 2012:29). This is important because it enables us to understand how technologies are changing human l...

Labor‐saving technologies in Manantali, Mali

“…Technologies are the “assemblage of knowledge, practices, skills, methods and the component tools” used by people to meet their goals (Ilahiane and Venter 2016, 6). Technology use is a universal human activity (Bray 2007, 44); many technologies are quite mundane.…”

“…Social scientists have long considered the production and use of technologies as complex, open‐ended, sociocultural processes (Ilahiane and Venter 2016, 194). A linear model that views technology as the application of science to technical problems is insufficient to understand technology choice (Bray 2007, 39), since the adoption of technological solutions to societal problems is not simply a response to need (Ilahiane and Venter 2016, 196). Nevertheless, users must find the technology useful (Bray 2007, 40).…”

“…Furthermore, the sociocultural context affects who may choose to use a new technology. Researchers need to understand not only the material needs of adopters but also their social needs, ideological interests, relevant identities, and micropolitics (Ilahiane and Venter 2016, 194). For example, poor farmers may hesitate to use new technologies if they think they offer too much risk (Dercon and Christaensen 2011).…”

“…Technology use is affected by existing power hierarchies, since technology production and use do not develop in isolation from larger societal dynamics (Ilahaine and Venter 2016, 196). Hierarchies of gender, status, ethnicity, and geography are all relevant (Ilahaine and Venter 2016, 196).…”

“…Technology use is affected by existing power hierarchies, since technology production and use do not develop in isolation from larger societal dynamics (Ilahaine and Venter 2016, 196). Hierarchies of gender, status, ethnicity, and geography are all relevant (Ilahaine and Venter 2016, 196). In the contemporary world, the distribution of power through emerging global networks can affect access to new technologies (Bray 2007, 45).…”