The Illusory Boundary: Environment and Technology in History

by Martin Reuss (Editor), Stephen H. Cutcliffe (Editor)

Overview

The view of nature and technology inhabiting totally different, even opposite, spheres persists across time and cultures. Most people would consider an English countryside or a Louisiana bayou to be "natural," though each is to an extent the product of technology. Pollution, widely thought to be a purely man-made phenomenon, results partly from natural processes. All around us, things from the natural world are brought into the human world. At what point do we consider them part of culture rather than nature? And does such a distinction illuminate our world or obscure its workings?

This compelling new book challenges the view that a clear and unwavering boundary exists between nature and technology. Rejecting this dichotomy, the contributors show how the history of each can be united in a constantly shifting panorama where definitions of "nature" and "technology" alter and overlap.

In addition to recognizing the artificial divide between these two concepts, the essays in this book demonstrate how such thinking may affect societies’ ability to survive and prosper. The answers and ideas are as numerous as the landscapes they consider, for there is no single path toward a more harmonious vision of technology and nature. Technologies that work in one place may not in another. Nature that is preserved in one community might become the raw material of technological progress somewhere else. Add to this the fact that the natural world and technology are not passive players, but are profoundly involved in cultural construction. Understanding such dynamics not only reveals a new historical complexity; it prepares us for coping with many of the most difficult and pressing social issues facing us today.

Contributors

Peter Coates * Craig E. Colten * Stephen H. Cutcliffe * Hugh S. Gorman * Betsy Mendelsohn * Joy Parr * Peter C. Perdue * Sara B. Pritchard * Martin Reuss * William D. Rowley * Edmund Russell * Joel A. Tarr * Ann Vileisis * James C. Williams * Thomas Zeller

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813929880
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	09/20/2010
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Martin Reuss served as Senior Historian, Water Resources, in the Office of History of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for nearly twenty-five years. He is the author of Designing the Bayous: The Control of Water in the Atchafalaya Basin, 1800–1995. Stephen H. Cutcliffe is Chair of the Department of History at Lehigh University and the author of Ideas, Machines, and Values: An Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society Studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction Martin Reuss Stephen H. Cutcliffe 1

Part I Nature, Technology, and the Human Element

Understanding the Place of Humans in Nature James C. Williams 9

Our Bodies and Our Histories of Technology and the Environment Joy Parr 26

Can Nature Improve Technology? Peter Coates 43

Part II Constructing Landscape

The Nature of Industrialization Sara B. Pritchard Thomas Zeller 69

Is There a Chinese View of Technology and Nature? Peter C. Perdue 101

Out West in Places and Spaces William D. Rowley 120

Part III Development and Waste

The City as an Artifact of Technology and the Environment Joel A. Tarr 145

Waste and Pollution: Changing Views and Environmental Consequences Craig E. Colten 171

Part IV Biology and Technology

Are Tomatoes Natural? Ann Vileisis 211

Can Organisms Be Technology? Edmund Russell 249

Part V Historiographic Retrospect and Concluding Reflections

Where Does Nature End and Culture Begin? Converging Themes in the History of Technology and Environmental History Hugh S. Gorman Betsy Mendelsohn 265

Afterword Martin Reuss 291

Notes on Contributors 303

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

An exciting collection of essays elucidating the ‘Envirotech’ approach to history. This important work not only challenges a traditional nature-technology dualism but stakes new intellectual ground. It demonstrates the meaning of ‘Envirotech’ through essays that address matters of historical interest and debate—industrialization, the American West, cities, food, agriculture, science. This volume is an original, substantial, and significant accomplishment.

Ann N. Greene

"An exciting collection of essays elucidating the ‘Envirotech’ approach to history. This important work not only challenges a traditional nature-technology dualism but stakes new intellectual ground. It demonstrates the meaning of ‘Envirotech’ through essays that address matters of historical interest and debate—industrialization, the American West, cities, food, agriculture, science. This volume is an original, substantial, and significant accomplishment. "—Ann N. Greene, University of Pennsylvania, author of Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America

From the Publisher