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<div><font color="#660000" size="4"><b>STS Circle at Harvard</b></font></div>
<div><span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><img src="cid:ii_13341b7c62335428" alt="image.png" title="image.png"></span></div><div>
<span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br></span></div>
<div><font size="4"><b>Clapperton Mavhunga</b></font></div>
<div><i>MIT, STS</i></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><i><br></i></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">on</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font size="4"><b>Why is the 'Social,' Not 'Technology,' the Central Subject </b></font></div><div><font size="4"><b>in African</b></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large"><b>(ist) History?</b></span></div>
<div>Monday, March 5th</div>
<div><font color="#000000">12:15-2:00 p.m.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room
106</font></div><div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><img src="cid:ii_13341b7c62335428" alt="image.png" title="image.png"></span></font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Lunch is provided if you RSVP.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Please RSVP to</font> <a href="mailto:sts@hks.harvard.edu" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">sts</font></a><a href="mailto:sts@hks.harvard.edu" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">@hks.harvard.edu</font></a><font color="#000000"> by
5pm Thursday, March 1st.</font></div>
<div><b><br></b></div>
<div><b>Abstract:</b> <font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Writing
in a recent article in <i>Technology &
Culture</i>, Leo Marx traced the history of technology as a concept and words
like “civilization” and “progress” that preceded the word. It was while
“civilization” and “progress” were common parlance in western societies that
Europe colonized Africa. These registers traveled with the colonizer and were
then used to name emerging settler infrastructures, silhouetted unambiguously
against those of “primitive” ‘natives’ presumed hostages to Nature until
(European) civilization rescued them. The Africanist’s first task was to
correct this narrative by reasserting the African as an agent. Any
consideration of the role of ‘technology’ and ‘nature’ in history cannot ignore
this usage and its impact on the production of knowledge about Africa. The
presentation dwells on one such example: the twentieth century colonial
discussions that the tsetse fly ‘held Africans hostage’ before European guns
and drug prophylactics came to their rescue.</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><b>Biography</b>: <font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga is an
assistant professor of science, technology, and society at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a historian of science, technology, and
society in Africa. He received his Masters at Wits University (South Africa)
and his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has authored a
number of book chapters and articles, including journals like <i>Social Text</i>,
<i>Journal of Southern African Studies</i>, and <i>Oryx</i>. This presentation
is the second chapter of his forthcoming book, <i>The Mobile Workshop</i>, an exploration of the war against tsetse fly
in Zimbabwe throughout the 20<sup>th</sup> century, in which rifles, insecticides
like DDT and Dieldrin, and human shields were used to stop the deadly
mobilities of an insect.</font></div>
<div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><br></div>
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events can be found on our website:</font></div>
<div><a href="http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/</font></a></div>
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