Interrogating Development
The Mobilisation of Science, Technologies, and Technical Assistance in Postwar Mexico
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Beschreibung
This volume explores the diverse meanings and ways of implementing development programs and technical assistance projects, through several case studies grounded in Mexico but transcending its geography. Despite – or perhaps because of – claims of “revolutionary nationalism”, Mexico played a crucial international role during the decades following World War II, both by challenging and enacting developmentalist models, values, and projects that stressed national priorities, resonating beyond its borders and even outside Latin America.
Energy, irrigation, communication infrastructures, nuclear technologies, public health, and patents, are meaningful examples explored in this volume of the mobilisation of science and technologies understood in a broad sense, including not only the natural and social sciences, but also bureaucratic technologies that accompanied infrastructural and industrial projects. These case studies interrogate the specific agents and mechanisms of technical assistance put to work to meet local priorities, which in turn required and informed different international models and ideas of development.
Gisela Mateos (PhD Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona 2001) is Full Professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her main research interests are the history of 20th-century physics and scientific and technological development projects in Mexico and Latin America during the Cold War. Her focus is on how technical assistance programs have changed scientific and medical practices in the so-called Third World.
Edna Suárez-Díaz (PhD National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, 1996) is Full Professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Between 2005 and 2008 she was Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany. Her research has focused on the history and historical epistemology of twentieth century life sciences. Currently, her work focuses on technical assistance related to biomedical and health practices.
This volume explores the diverse meanings and ways of implementing development programs and technical assistance projects, through several case studies grounded in Mexico but transcending its geography. Despite – or perhaps because of – claims of “revolutionary nationalism”, Mexico played a crucial international role during the decades following World War II, both by challenging and enacting developmentalist models, values, and projects that stressed national priorities, resonating beyond its borders and even outside Latin America.
Energy, irrigation, communication infrastructures, nuclear technologies, public health, and patents, are meaningful examples explored in this volume of the mobilisation of science and technologies understood in a broad sense, including not only the natural and social sciences, but also bureaucratic technologies that accompanied infrastructural and industrial projects. These case studies interrogate the specific agents and mechanisms of technical assistance put to work to meet local priorities, which in turn required and informed different international models and ideas of development.
Draws together innovative research on the history of science and technology, diplomacy, economics, and development Provides a novel approach to Mexico’s engagement with development Offers case studies that interrogate the mobilisation of sciences and technologies in technical assistance projects
Autor*in
Gisela Mateos
Themen in »Interrogating Development«
Science and technology technical assistance economic development Mexico industrialization expertise mobilisation Third World technology transfer STS development studies
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“The volume is well balanced, pointing out not only where projects fell short, proved illusory, or reinforced inequitable power structures, but also where they exemplified genuine aspirations for human betterment. It will surely find its way onto the shelves of a wide range of scholars interested in Latin America. Students and researchers interested more broadly in technology transfer, adaptation, and assistance to developing countries will also find it enlightening and useful.” (Justin Castro, Technology and Culture, Vol. 67 (1), January, 2026)
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