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SUMMARY:Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia - Professor
  Victor Seow (Harvard University)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20221201T160000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20221201T173000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/5d15a1fe-b7bc-4145-b2ee-c22e4f6e6e57/
DESCRIPTION:In this talk\, Prof. Seow will introduce his recent book\, Car
 bon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia (Chicago\, 2022)\, whi
 ch explores that question through the history of what was once the region
 ’s largest coal mine\, the Fushun colliery. Across the twentieth century
 \, Fushun changed hands between various Chinese and Japanese states\, each
  of which endeavoured to unearth its purportedly 'inexhaustible' carbon re
 sources and employed a range of technoscientific means toward that end. By
  following the experiences of Chinese and Japanese bureaucrats and planner
 s\, geologists and mining engineers\, and labour contractors and miners\, 
 Victor Seow uncovers the deep links between the raw materiality of the coa
 l face and the corridors of power in Tokyo\, Nanjing\, Beijing and beyond\
 , and charts how the carbon economy emerged in tandem with the rise of the
  modern technocratic state. In Fushun’s history\, one is further confron
 ted with hubristic attempts to tame and transform nature through technolog
 y\, the misplaced valorization of machines over human beings\, and product
 ivist pursuits that strained both the environment from which coal was extr
 acted and the many workers on whom that extractive process so deeply depen
 ded. These were all defining features of the energy regime of what Prof. S
 eow refers to as 'carbon technocracy' and the wider industrial modern worl
 d that it helped create.\n\nVictor Seow is an Assistant Professor of the H
 istory of Science at Harvard University. He is a historian of technology\,
  science and industry\, specializing in China and Japan and in histories o
 f energy and work. His first book\, Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in 
 Modern East Asia\, was released by the University of Chicago Press earlier
  this year. He is currently working on a new book that examines how work b
 ecomes and functions as an object of scientific inquiry through the histor
 y of industrial psychology in China.\nSpeakers:\nProfessor Victor Seow (Ha
 rvard University)
LOCATION:Dickson Poon Building (Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground
  floor))\, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/5d15a1fe-b7bc-4145-b2ee-c22e4f6e6e57/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia - 
 Professor Victor Seow (Harvard University)
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