Recreating the Rhone: Nature, Technology, and the State in France Since 1945

虽然最近的方法在技术史上主要集中在技术文物和系统作为文化或政治对象，这个项目研究了二战后工业化的历史，特别注意这些对象如何体现人类，自然和技术之间不断发展的关系。特别是，它通过检查河流管理技术的历史，追溯了法国罗纳河自1945年以来的发展。核心利益是这些技术如何体现，构成和规定罗纳河的用户，不同的用途和河流本身之间的相互作用。这种技术的历史生态观使学者们不仅可以从技术变革或工作和生产组织的转变方面来探索工业化的近代史，而且可以从现代社会与自然环境相互作用方式的根本转变方面来探索工业化的近代史。该项目补充了以系统或网络思想为中心的科学和技术研究的早期方法，重点关注自第二次世界大战以来法国技术发展，环境管理和国家建设的相互关联的过程。分析自1945年以来在罗纳河上建造的技术文物，不仅阐明了河流管理技术的更大转变，而且还揭示了当代法国人、自然、技术和国家之间的关系。在世纪的后半叶，罗纳河是法国工程师、官僚、作家和公民就工业和农业的适当平衡、水电和核能、城市和农村空间、发展和环境保护以及罗纳河是否应该服务于地区、国家或国际利益进行辩论的场所。这些团体还考虑了国家在追求这些不同的、往往是相互竞争的目标方面的适当作用。因此，罗纳河的发展在其核心上表现出对国家和民族认同的理想环境和技术基础的冲突。因此，这一案例研究将引起技术历史学家、技术研究学者和环境历史学家的兴趣，同时其方法和理论贡献也会引起更广泛的科学技术研究界的兴趣。 根据这项建议，2003年夏季将有两个月的时间前往法国，对法国包括巴黎、里昂和尼姆的有关档案收藏以及法国东南部的市政和部门档案进行必要的新研究。在这些集合中的文件将有助于分析和发展这样的主题，如罗纳河的政治，经济和体制目标的转变;具体项目的技术设计;国家内不同群体之间的冲突，国家机构和用户之间，以及用户之间;和当地社区对这些项目的反应。这项新的研究将导致一本书，发表文章，会议演示和邀请会谈。

While recent approaches within the history of technology have largely focused on technological artifacts and systems as cultural or political objects, this project examines the history of post-World War II industrialization with particular attention to how these objects manifest evolving relationships between humans, nature, and technology. In particular, it traces the development of France's Rhone River since 1945 by examining the history of river management technologies. Of central interest is how these technologies embodied, constituted, and prescribed shifting interactions between users of the Rhone, different uses, and the river itself. Such a historical ecological view of technology allows scholars to explore the recent history of industrialization not only in terms of technical change or shifts in the organization of work and production, but also as a fundamental transformation in the way modern societies interact with the natural environment. Complementing earlier approaches in science and technology studies that have centered on the idea of systems or networks, this project focuses on the interrelated processes of technological development, environmental management, and state building in France since World War II. Analyzing the technological artifacts built on the Rhone since 1945 illuminates larger transitions within not only river management technologies, but also the relationship between humans, nature, technology, and the state in contemporary France. Over the second half of the twentieth century, the Rhone was a literal site for debates between French engineers, bureaucrats, writers, and citizens over the proper balance of industry and agriculture; hydroelectric and nuclear energy; urban and rural spaces; development and environmental preservation; and if the Rhone should serve regional, national, or international interests. These groups also considered the proper role of the state in pursuing these different, and often competing, objectives. At its core, then, the development of the Rhone manifests conflicts over the ideal environmental and technological basis of the nation and national identity. This case study will, therefore, be of interest to historians of technology, scholars in technology studies, and environmental historians while its methodological and theoretical contributions also speak to the broader community of science and technology studies. This proposal will permit travel to France for two months during the summer of 2003 to conduct essential new research in relevant archival collections in France, including Paris, Lyon, and Nimes as well as municipal and departmental archives in southeastern France. Documents in these collections will help to analyze and develop such themes as shifting political, economic, and institutional objectives for the Rhone; technical designs of specific projects; conflicts between different groups within the state, between state agencies and users, and among users; and responses by local communities to these projects. This new research will lead to a book, published articles, conference presentations, and invited talks.