Dissertation Research: The Technological Transition from Natural to Artificial Indigo from the Perspectives of Science, Commerce, and Politics in Colonial India, c. 1860-1914

这是一项科学技术研究论文改进资助。拟议的论文考察了在全球殖民的政治和经济背景下的科学行为和技术创新过程。这笔赠款下的资金将提供审查若干英国档案中的有关材料的手段。研究人员将对殖民印度的欧洲种植园主进行案例研究，这些种植园主组织了天然靛蓝的生产和分销，以应对德国制造的合成替代品带来的突然挑战。该项目将采取跨国、跨学科的视角。它将考察印度的制造商和研究人员，包括实地农艺师和实验室化学家，以及英国的主要消费者和政策制定者。这篇论文将有助于学术兴趣的几个领域：科学与技术研究文献，南亚历史，殖民历史，经济和商业历史，以及创新研究。这项研究将对试图理解科学研发动态并试图确定不断变化的全球动态如何影响科学特征和技术变革过程的决策者和商界人士产生相关影响。

This is a Science and Technology Studies dissertation improvement grant. The proposed dissertation examines the conduct of science and the process of technological innovation in the political and economic context of global colonization. Funds under this grant would provide the means to examine relevant materials in several British archives. The researchers will develop a case study of European planters based in colonial India who organized the production and distribution of natural indigo as they responded to a sudden challenge posed by synthetic substitutes manufactured in Germany. The project will take a transnational, interdisciplinary perspective. It will examine manufacturers and researchers in India, including both field-based agronomists and laboratory-centered chemists, as well as key consumers and policy makers in Britain. The dissertation will contribute to several areas of academic interest: the literatures of Science and Technology Studies, South Asian history, colonial history, economic and business history, and innovation studies. The study will have implications of relevance to policy makers and business people attempting to comprehend the dynamics of scientific R & D and seeking to ascertain how changing global dynamics influence the character of science and the process of technological change.