Inside Anthropotechnology

Philippe Geslin, University of Applied Sciences, Western Switzerland.

• Introduction ixPhilippe GESLINChapter 1 Anthropotechnological Practice and Time Politics in the Development Industry 1Matthieu BOLAY1.1 Conducting research about water allocation when there is no water 21.2 Time, power and cotemporalities 61.2.1 Ethnographic temporality 91.2.2 Bureaucratic temporality 131.3 Anthropotechnological temporalities: the Tanzanian case 141.3.1 The oMoMi project 151.3.2 Project genesis: when does a project begin? 161.3.3 Supported iterations 181.3.4 Productive cotemporality: simultaneity, crowdsourcing and FabLab fabrication 201.4 Conclusion: designing technologies based on user temporality 231.5 Bibliography 25Chapter 2 The Appropriation of Knowledge: An Anthropology of Transmission in the Context of Professional Training 27Hervé MUNZ2.1 The anthropotechnological approach to appropriation as a critique of the notion of transmission 282.2 Learning an industry 302.2.1 The “mechanical sense” as a way of knowing 312.2.2 Skilled vision or sight training 332.3 Transmission methods for the “mechanical sense” 362.3.1 Professional training beyond binary oppositions 362.3.2 The pedagogy of concealment 392.3.3 Objects as transfer vectors of the profession 412.4 A theory of transmission as appropriation and transformation 442.5 Bibliography 46Chapter 3 At the Heart of the Sensibility: The “Profane” Gold of Madre de Dios 49Carole BAUDIN3.1 Prologue 493.2 Context: the challenge of a perceived nature 513.3 The scene: a humid and slippery topography 533.4 Gold mining: a skillful practice between nature and culture 563.5 Body techniques: embodied tempo 603.6 Body to body with the elements 643.7 Gold and mercury: sensual alchemy 663.8 The mythic body of miners 693.9 Sensitive memory: transmission of a “slippery” skill 703.10 Collective memory: the development of a social body 713.11 Local memory of development 733.12 Discussion: an intervention based on profane knowledge 753.13 Conclusion: contribution to anthropotechnology 793.14 Bibliography 82Chapter 4 The Fall Between the Objectification of Engineers and the Subjectification of Elderly People: The Challenges of Mediation 85Laura BERTINI4.1 Introduction 854.2 New technologies for older generations 874.3 The cultural dimension of gerontechnologies 904.4 Defining and understanding the fall in the home 944.5 Common frames of reference 1014.6 Anthropotechnology, process of legitimization and transfer of ethnographic knowledge 1034.7 Conclusion 1074.8 Bibliography 108Chapter 5 In Step with Prosthetic Limbs! A Study of Scaling Up from Local Innovations 111Chloé LECOMTE5.1 A multisite study in northern and southern Vietnam 1135.2 The conventional route: standard and existing prostheses 1145.3 Forms of appropriation and illustrative stories 1165.4 Taking the next step: an analysis of scale-up factors 1195.4.1 Partnerships and history: anchoring in the local network to better scale-up 1195.4.2 Local adaptation of techniques and objects, proof of appropriation 1215.4.3 Adaptability of technologies in an autopoietic system 1225.5 Discussions and a review of the anthropotechnological approach 1235.6 Acknowledgements 1265.7 Bibliography 126Chapter 6 FabLabs: Product Design and Anthropotechnology 129Gaëtan BUSSY6.1 FabLabs 1316.1.1 History 1316.1.2 Philosophy 1326.1.3 Evolution 1356.2 A day in the FabLab 1356.3 Anthropotechnology and FabLabs 1386.3.1 Managing water in Tanzania 1396.3.2 Pleco: the electrolytic pencil 1416.4 Conclusion 1436.5 Bibliography 145List of Authors 147Index 149