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SUMMARY:Imitation as innovation: recasting the history of technology in mo
 dern Korea - Hyungsub Choi (Seoul National University of Science and Techn
 ology\; Needham Research Institute)
DTSTART:20220428T143000Z
DTEND:20220428T160000Z
UID:TALK173429@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:Innovation is overrated. In recent years\, historians of techn
 ology have challenged the historical narrative focusing on innovation and 
 novelty\, and turned toward 'technology-in-use' and 'maintenance'. Yet\, t
 hose working on the so-called peripheral regions continue to search for th
 e elusive technological innovations – just as the gold rushers sieved th
 rough mud and sand hoping to find precious metal – identifying trace-amo
 unts of innovative technical practices. This project begins from the premi
 se that no innovation occurred in modern Korea. All technologies were impo
 rtations from or imitations of advanced industrial countries (mostly the U
 nited States and Japan). Taking this perspective allows us to see beyond t
 he successful outlier cases and capture the diverse practices that shaped 
 the meaning and purpose of technologies in the postcolonial nation. In the
  talk\, I will discuss several case studies to illustrate this point.
LOCATION:Hopkinson Lecture Theatre and Zoom
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