Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnographic Study of Technology, Culture, and Development at the Guiana Space Center

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9400155 Rabinow Under the direction of Dr. Paul Rabinow, Mr. Peter Redfield is exploring local effects of a global technological system, examining the primary launch facilities of the French and European space programs at Kourou, French Guiana. The focus of this project is on the social and cultural aspects of the location of this large center of high technology outside of the industrialized world,a nd its relation to the small multiethnic society surrounding it on the edge of the South American rainforest. Two interrelated questions guide the investigation: First, what is the significance of geographic and social location within a technical system, and the relationship of technology to issues of development? Second, what are the symbolic roles of technology in the cultural evaluation of development. Through an ethnographic and historical examination of interactions between international technology and a particular place, the project seeks to compliment recent exchanges between anthropology and social studies of science and technology by presenting within a local frame a specific case study of one extension of modern technology beyond the West. This grant provides support for ethnographic fieldwork in French Guiana as well as archival research in France. ***