Techniques of repair, the circulation of knowledge, and environmental transformation

Towards a new history of transportation

Bibliographic Data

ID4392648
AuthorsDániel Margócsy (0000-0002-0478-4821, University of Cambridge, corresponding author), Mary Augusta Brazelton (0000-0001-5941-9576, University of Cambridge)
Year2023
Volume61
Issue1
Pages3-18
Publication date2023-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0073-2753 • E-ISSN: 1753-8564
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00732753211046450
PMID34581217
OpenAlexW3198504222
LanguageEN
Citations received2

It is the aim of this article to put questions of maintenance and repair in the history of science and technology under scrutiny, with a special focus on technologies and methods of transportation. The history of transportation is a history of trying to avoid shipwrecks and plane crashes. It is also a history of broken masts, worm-eaten hulls, the flat tires of cars, and endless delays at airports. This introductory article assesses the technological, scientific, and cultural implications of repairing and maintaining transportation networks. We argue that infrastructures for maintenance and repair played just as important a role in the history of transportation as the wharves and factories where ships, cars, trains, and airplanes were originally built. We also suggest that maintenance and repair are important sites of knowledge production, and a historical account of these practices provides a new, decentered narrative for the development of modern science and technology

American history · Archaeology · Environmental history · History of science and technology · History of technology · Narrative · Political science · Scrutiny · Social science · Sociology · Train · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

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Open DOIOpen Access