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Cited by 1,105

The DOI matches its Crossref record.

The Zimbabwe Bush Pump: Mechanics of a Fluid Technology

de Laet, Marianne, Mol, Annemarie·2000·Social Studies of Science
DOI 10.1177/030631200030002002
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Abstract

In this paper we investigate the intricacies of an admirable water pumping device - the Zimbabwe Bush Pump `B' type - so as to find out what makes it an `appropriate technology'. This turns out to be what we call the `fluidity' of the pump (of its boundaries, or of its working order, and of its maker). We find that in travelling to intractable places, an object that isn't too rigorously bounded, that doesn't impose itself but tries to serve, that is adaptable, flexible and responsive - in short, a fluid object - may well prove to be stronger than one which is firm. By analyzing the success and failure of this device, its agency and the way in which it shapes new configurations in the Zimbabwean socio-technical landscape, we partake in the current move in science and technology studies to transform what it means to be an actor. And by mobilizing the term love for articulating our relation to the Bush Pump, we try to contribute to shaping novel ways of `doing' normativity.

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Metadata

Authors
de Laet, M., & Mol, A.
Venue
Social Studies of Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2000-04
Volume
30
Issue
2
Pages
225-263
ISSN
  • 0036-8539 (ISSN-L)
  • 0306-3127
  • 1460-3659
DOI
10.1177/030631200030002002
OpenAlex
W2117967525
Cited by
1,105
References
0
FWCI
44.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.