Trading zones in a colony

Transcultural techniques at missionary stations in the Dutch East Indies, 1860 – 1940

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9345336
AutoresMikael Hard (0000-0003-2466-1092, Technische Universität Darmstadt, autor de correspondencia), Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz (Technische Universität Darmstadt)
Año2020
Volumen50
Número6
Páginas932-955
Fecha de publicación2020-05-24
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Studies of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0306-3127 • E-ISSN: 1460-3659
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0306312720925913
PMID32449468
OpenAlexW3026352271
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas22

Global histories of technology tend to tell one-sided stories of transfer and exploitation, and they usually analyze the activities of large corporations, nation states or the military. By focusing on missionary societies in the colonial era, this article tells a different story. On the basis of primary sources from German missionaries in the Dutch East Indies, it shows how the application of various techniques at missionary stations was the outcome of transcultural interaction. Although missionaries brought with them tools and materials from home, they remained dependent on the knowledge and skills of local artisans, as well as the material and goods the locals provided. Missionaries' wives tried to uphold a Western lifestyle but found themselves using local household technologies. The missionary station was a trading zone : Although the abilities of Europeans and Asians to communicate were socially and linguistically limited, they proved able to exchange information and skills in a successful manner. By revisiting the anthropological background to Galison's trading zone , the authors re-appropriate this concept to improve our understanding of cross-cultural exchange in non-scientific settings

Archaeology · Colonialism · Cultural exchange · Economics · Economy · Ethnology · German · Sociology · West indies · Anthropology · Australian History and Society · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History