Reading Notes: Hecht, "Rupture Talk"
Jan. 25th, 2011 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raxArticle is about nuclear mining in Africa and other colonized spaces and how it contributed to the production of nuclear powers. (As in states, not reactors.)
It uses "rupture-talk" without defining it, but I think it roughly means "idealizing processes as a sudden split when they are arguably smooth," from the descriptions of nuclearization and decolonization.
"One source of tension between rupture-talk and colonial continuity, I argue, was the mapping of sociotechnical practices on to racial and ethnic hierarchies, and on to ideas about citizenship and the state." (692-3) Is a sociotechnical practice like a somatechnical practice for the body politic?
Uranium prospecting as tied to bothphysical (finding new locations to mine) and social mobility; and mobility arguably of the body politic toward a decolonized position.
Metaphor of conjugation is really interesting in here; changing the subject or the tense without changing the root. postcolonial conjugations of previously colonial ideas? (relating to other piece by Mavhunga, did diffusion of firearms change conjugation of colonial dynamics in a different way?)
The pamphlet used as a primary text here about what French expatriates in the early 60s should expect is fascinating. Technology as a substitution for race except only sort of. In fact, "an ethnotechnicalhierarchy: French engineers and geologists ran prospecting and mining operations; Merina worked as lab technicians, mechanics, chauffeurs and budget officers; and the Tandroy worked as guards, porters and rock-breakers. At Ambatomika, racial and ethnic divisions also struc- tured housing development and leisure activities." (699) The Merina increasingly made demands for equal treatment, including but not limited to talk of unionization. The only way to achieve that was to leave Madagascar for mining expeditions in Gabon and Niger. (703) ---and it wasn't strict equality; it was sort of a parallel equality; socialized with other expatriates but direct reports were never expatriates, were always Africans. (and presumably always not white although article doesn't actually specify)
"For readers unfamiliar with rural communities outside Europe and North America, the most striking fact to emerge from my interviews with Tandroy mineworkers might be this: with only two exceptions, none of the Tandroy who had mined uranium had ever heard of the atomic bomb, let alone nuclear power. Nuclear rupture-talk had not made it to the Androy desert. The Tandroy had therefore spent 10 years working for the CEA without knowing why these French people wanted those rocks. The Tandroy had noticed uranothorianite rocks before the arrivalof the CEA in their land. They called these rocks 'vatovy' [va-too-vee], the same word used to designate any unusually dense, black rock. And vatovy had had its uses, as ammunition for slingshots and weights for fishing lines. So they knew where to find vatovy, and could direct CEA geologists to promising areas. But for most of my interlocutors, I was the first person to describe atom bombs and nuclear power (explanations which they inevitably de- manded after I asked whether they knew what vatovy was for). Typically, people expressed awe at the sheer concept of killing so many people in one blow - Tandroy villages have 30-50 inhabitants - followed by shaking heads and laughter. 'You crazy vazahas', they would say: 'Why do you want this stuff?'" (705)
Yup, that's pretty striking! Also: "For most Tandroy, a vazaha is a vazaha is a vazaha, and all vazahas are obsessed with rocks. This is an entirely reasonable view: uranium mining was neither the first nor the last form of mining in their region, and my presence was indeed motivated by rocks. I explained over and over again that I didn't want vatovy - I just wanted to talk about it. Nevertheless, by my second week there, my presence had sparked rumours that the vazahas might return to mine more vatovy. Perhaps hoping that I was in fact a CEA agent, many of the people I talked to assured me that they would gladly work in vatovy again." Stuff white people like, partial list: Rocks. Tandroy mobility was based on not _having_ to move, because they had accumulated wealth in the form of a larger herd of zebu.
Gabon's uranium mining was much less ad hoc (dare I say: deterritorialized?). More systemized "sociotechnical transformation." Is this a kind of diffusion? Can you diffuse a somatechnology? A sociotechnology? Actually that should be one of my questions. The Rogers talks about technology being diffused as requiring a hardware and a software; what if there is no hardware?
Relationship of Gabonese state to all of this is fascinating. A more in-depth reading of this for me would require a bunch of background research on who was in charge of the Gabonese state at this time and what their motivations were. This process created Gabonese citizens but also changed the French companies that were doing mining. (Also gender in here is basically ignored.)
Workplace safety was handled not by experts but by foremen who were given specific sets of rules to make people follow. "far from removing the arbitrariness of colonial power, [this] opacity simply shifted that power into another register." (713-14)
"In Madagascar it was not the presence, but rather the absence, of
nuclear rupture-talk that was striking.There was no larger 'nukespeak' - of either the romantic or the apocalyptic variety - in the Androy desert." (718) This led to no understanding of the dangers of radiation or the value of labor. Even in Gabon, the danger of radiation was transmitted "not as knowledge, but as discipine."
"In practice, however, mobility was bounded in all kinds of ways. Access to knowledge that would promote mobility was controlled by French experts and limited to those deemed appropriately 'evolved'. The skills in question were never purely technical, but always sociotechnical. This hy- bridity functioned to control mobility. Thus Merina in Madagascar who had acquired the proper technical qualifications still could not fill supervi- sory positions on the same terms as the French for 'psychological' reasons, and Gabonization was not just about job training, but about creating 'modern' lifestyles. Such sociotechnical practices conjugated colonial power relations into a technological future." (719) IMPORTANT.
It uses "rupture-talk" without defining it, but I think it roughly means "idealizing processes as a sudden split when they are arguably smooth," from the descriptions of nuclearization and decolonization.
"One source of tension between rupture-talk and colonial continuity, I argue, was the mapping of sociotechnical practices on to racial and ethnic hierarchies, and on to ideas about citizenship and the state." (692-3) Is a sociotechnical practice like a somatechnical practice for the body politic?
Uranium prospecting as tied to bothphysical (finding new locations to mine) and social mobility; and mobility arguably of the body politic toward a decolonized position.
Metaphor of conjugation is really interesting in here; changing the subject or the tense without changing the root. postcolonial conjugations of previously colonial ideas? (relating to other piece by Mavhunga, did diffusion of firearms change conjugation of colonial dynamics in a different way?)
The pamphlet used as a primary text here about what French expatriates in the early 60s should expect is fascinating. Technology as a substitution for race except only sort of. In fact, "an ethnotechnicalhierarchy: French engineers and geologists ran prospecting and mining operations; Merina worked as lab technicians, mechanics, chauffeurs and budget officers; and the Tandroy worked as guards, porters and rock-breakers. At Ambatomika, racial and ethnic divisions also struc- tured housing development and leisure activities." (699) The Merina increasingly made demands for equal treatment, including but not limited to talk of unionization. The only way to achieve that was to leave Madagascar for mining expeditions in Gabon and Niger. (703) ---and it wasn't strict equality; it was sort of a parallel equality; socialized with other expatriates but direct reports were never expatriates, were always Africans. (and presumably always not white although article doesn't actually specify)
"For readers unfamiliar with rural communities outside Europe and North America, the most striking fact to emerge from my interviews with Tandroy mineworkers might be this: with only two exceptions, none of the Tandroy who had mined uranium had ever heard of the atomic bomb, let alone nuclear power. Nuclear rupture-talk had not made it to the Androy desert. The Tandroy had therefore spent 10 years working for the CEA without knowing why these French people wanted those rocks. The Tandroy had noticed uranothorianite rocks before the arrivalof the CEA in their land. They called these rocks 'vatovy' [va-too-vee], the same word used to designate any unusually dense, black rock. And vatovy had had its uses, as ammunition for slingshots and weights for fishing lines. So they knew where to find vatovy, and could direct CEA geologists to promising areas. But for most of my interlocutors, I was the first person to describe atom bombs and nuclear power (explanations which they inevitably de- manded after I asked whether they knew what vatovy was for). Typically, people expressed awe at the sheer concept of killing so many people in one blow - Tandroy villages have 30-50 inhabitants - followed by shaking heads and laughter. 'You crazy vazahas', they would say: 'Why do you want this stuff?'" (705)
Yup, that's pretty striking! Also: "For most Tandroy, a vazaha is a vazaha is a vazaha, and all vazahas are obsessed with rocks. This is an entirely reasonable view: uranium mining was neither the first nor the last form of mining in their region, and my presence was indeed motivated by rocks. I explained over and over again that I didn't want vatovy - I just wanted to talk about it. Nevertheless, by my second week there, my presence had sparked rumours that the vazahas might return to mine more vatovy. Perhaps hoping that I was in fact a CEA agent, many of the people I talked to assured me that they would gladly work in vatovy again." Stuff white people like, partial list: Rocks. Tandroy mobility was based on not _having_ to move, because they had accumulated wealth in the form of a larger herd of zebu.
Gabon's uranium mining was much less ad hoc (dare I say: deterritorialized?). More systemized "sociotechnical transformation." Is this a kind of diffusion? Can you diffuse a somatechnology? A sociotechnology? Actually that should be one of my questions. The Rogers talks about technology being diffused as requiring a hardware and a software; what if there is no hardware?
Relationship of Gabonese state to all of this is fascinating. A more in-depth reading of this for me would require a bunch of background research on who was in charge of the Gabonese state at this time and what their motivations were. This process created Gabonese citizens but also changed the French companies that were doing mining. (Also gender in here is basically ignored.)
Workplace safety was handled not by experts but by foremen who were given specific sets of rules to make people follow. "far from removing the arbitrariness of colonial power, [this] opacity simply shifted that power into another register." (713-14)
"In Madagascar it was not the presence, but rather the absence, of
nuclear rupture-talk that was striking.There was no larger 'nukespeak' - of either the romantic or the apocalyptic variety - in the Androy desert." (718) This led to no understanding of the dangers of radiation or the value of labor. Even in Gabon, the danger of radiation was transmitted "not as knowledge, but as discipine."
"In practice, however, mobility was bounded in all kinds of ways. Access to knowledge that would promote mobility was controlled by French experts and limited to those deemed appropriately 'evolved'. The skills in question were never purely technical, but always sociotechnical. This hy- bridity functioned to control mobility. Thus Merina in Madagascar who had acquired the proper technical qualifications still could not fill supervi- sory positions on the same terms as the French for 'psychological' reasons, and Gabonization was not just about job training, but about creating 'modern' lifestyles. Such sociotechnical practices conjugated colonial power relations into a technological future." (719) IMPORTANT.