Instrumental Lives: An Intimate Biography of an Indian Laboratory

ISBN-13: 9781138587670 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 126 str.

Pankajkumar Ramawtar Sekhsaria

Opis

The book is an account of instrument making in a modern Indian scientific laboratory. It uses qualitative research methods such as interviews, historical analysis and laboratory ethnography, to present the micro-details of this enterprise, the counter-intuitive methods employed, and the un-expected material, human and intellectual resources that were mobilised in the process. It locates scientific research and innovation within the social, political and cultural context of a laboratory's physical location and asks important questions of the dominant narratives of innovation that remain fixated on quantitative metrics of publishing, patenting and generating commerce.

Spis treści

1. Series Editor Foreword (Saurabh Dube) 2. Introduction: Entering the lab/setting the stage 3. 1986–2014: Making of the STM 4. S&T in modern India – a brief history 5. Jugaad and its many worlds/avatars 6. Dharmadhikari’s microscopes and technological jugaad 7. Implications for innovation policy 8. De-centred/de-centring cultures of innovation 9. In the end…or call it an epilogue

O autorze

Pankaj Sekhsaria is Associate Professor at the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (C-TARA), IIT Bombay. He was until recently Senior Project Scientist at the DST-Centre for Policy Research, Department of Humanities and Social Science, IIT-Delhi. His research interests lie at the intersection of science, environment, technology and society. He has a PhD in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands and has written extensively on issues of environment, development and wildlife conservation in India with a special focus on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.