Social and economic history of science and technology

has emerged as a major theme of interdisciplinary

research in South Asian history since the late 1990s.
This book studies the correlation between technological
knowledge and industrial performance, with the focus on
electricity, an emerging technology during 1880 and 1945.
The arrival of electricity necessitated the introduction
of new institutional facilities, and with the growth of
technological system, a new business culture grew —
there was demand for trained manpower to handle
Suvobrata Sarkar teaches in the Department of
machines and better educational facilities.
History, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. His
Taking a broad view of the subject, the narrative of this research looks at the social history of technology in
book is built around the historical experiences of the local colonial India.
Bengali-speaking population. Adopting the social
constructionist model, Let There Be Light presents an
amalgamation of archival and Indian language source
materials to delineate the diverse nature of the
appropriation of technological ideas into Indian culture.

Hardback 978-1-108-83598-5 850.00

 Advance praise for the book

Deftly combining education and invention, entrepreneurship and imagination,

Sarkar unveils the fascinating history of how one of the twentieth century’s most
List of abbreviations dynamic and transformative technologies rose to prominence in colonial Bengal …
— David Arnold, University of Warwick
List of figures

Preface
Introduction
1. Technical knowledge and its institutes
2. Entrepreneurship, industry and technology
3. Electrification: the shaping of a technology
… Suvobrata Sarkar provides fascinating details about electricity’s flow into the
veins of that great city … a skillful explanation of why the subtle presence of this
invisible technology has been easily but unfortunately overlooked …
— Robert Anderson, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
This deeply researched book is an important contribution to both Indian history and
the history of technology, providing an essential background to understanding
India's technological development.
— Ross Bassett, North Carolina State University

4. Domesticating electricity The book is well researched and based on a huge amount of primary sources. It is a
highly interesting subject placing electricity in an Indian social and cultural context
5. Assimilation of technological ideas and hence freeing it from technology as a marker of colonial progress …
— Michael Mann, Humboldt University of Berlin
Conclusion
… For India, that history speaks to dependence and independence, innovation and
Bibliography enterprise. In a sweeping arc, and with lightning brilliance, Professor Sarkar
electrifies that story through the history of colonial Bengal …
Index — Roy MacLeod, The University of Sydney

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