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

虽然技术史上的最新方法主要集中在作为文化或政治对象的技术人工制品和系统上，但本项目考察了二战后工业化的历史，特别关注这些对象如何体现人类、自然和技术之间不断演变的关系。特别是，它通过考察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。最令人感兴趣的是这些技术是如何体现、构成和规定罗纳河使用者、不同用途和河流本身之间不断变化的互动。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探索工业化的近代历史，而且还可以将其作为现代社会与自然环境互动方式的根本性转变。这个项目是对早期以系统或网络为中心的科学和技术研究方法的补充，重点关注二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年以来建立在罗纳河上的技术文物，不仅揭示了河流管理技术方面的更大转变，而且揭示了当代法国人、自然、技术和国家之间的关系。在二十世纪下半叶，罗纳河是法国工程师、官僚、作家和公民之间就工业和农业的适当平衡、水力发电和核能、城市和农村空间、发展和环境保护以及罗纳河是否应该为地区、国家或国际利益服务的辩论的字面意思。这些团体还认为，在追求这些不同的、往往是相互竞争的目标方面，国家应该发挥适当的作用。因此，从本质上讲，罗纳河的发展体现了对国家理想环境和技术基础以及国家认同的冲突。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，同时它的方法论和理论贡献也将对更广泛的科学和技术研究社区说话。这项建议将允许在2003年夏天前往法国两个月，对法国的相关档案收藏进行必要的新研究，包括巴黎、里昂和尼姆以及法国东南部的市政和部门档案。这些收藏中的文件将有助于分析和制定罗纳河不断变化的政治、经济和体制目标；具体项目的技术设计；州内不同群体之间、国家机构和用户之间以及用户之间的冲突；以及当地社区对这些项目的反应。这项新的研究将导致出版一本书、发表文章、会议报告和特邀演讲。

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.