Let there be Light
Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal, 1880–1945

This book studies the correlation between technological knowledge and industrial performance, with the focus on electricity, an emerging technology during 1880 and 1945.

Suvobrata Sarkar (Author)

9781108835985, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 December 2020

308 pages
23.9 x 16.4 x 2.4 cm, 0.53 kg

Social and economic history of science and technology has emerged as a major theme of interdisciplinary research in South Asian history since the late 1990s. This book studies the correlation between technological knowledge and industrial performance, with the focus on electricity, an emerging technology during 1880 and 1945. The arrival of electricity necessitated the introduction of new institutional facilities, and with the growth of technological system, a new business culture grew - there was demand for trained manpower to handle machines and better educational facilities. Taking a broad view of the subject, the narrative of this book is built around the historical experiences of the local Bengali-speaking population. Adopting the social constructionist model, Let There Be Light presents an amalgamation of archival and Indian language source materials to delineate the diverse nature of the appropriation of technological ideas into Indian culture.

List of abbreviations
List of figures
Preface
Introduction
1. Technical knowledge and its institutes
2. Entrepreneurship, industry and technology
3. Electrification: the shaping of a technology
4. Domesticating electricity
5. Assimilation of technological ideas
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX], Entrepreneurship [KJH], History [HB]