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Reverse engineering as history and method

The Portuguese espingarda in Chosŏn Korea

Bibliographic Data

ID14800832
AuthorsHyeok Hweon Kang (0000-0002-0893-0427, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume38
Issue2-3
Pages144-166
Publication date2022-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0734-1512 • E-ISSN: 1477-2620
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07341512.2022.2153206
OpenAlexW4318986698
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

How does one reverse engineer a technical artefact, let alone build a system of knowledge, use, and production around it? This article investigates Korean artisans and practitioners in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and their efforts to understand and rebuild the Portuguese espingarda (matchlock musket). What emerges, first, is a hitherto untold story of how a global artefact became reconstituted in Korea – a process that generated new practices, practitioners, and unexpected innovations. In telling this story, a second, methodological contribution is made: the demonstration of a hands-on approach to historical research that investigates material objects and, in this case, does so through the very act of reverse engineering, defined here as mechanical dissection

Economics · Knowledge management · Knowledge production · Linguistics · Portuguese · Reverse engineering · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · Engineering · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Philosophy

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Unique citing works1
Citations per year0.33
Citation span2023 - 2023 (1)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1

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