Dr Shu Chang-Xue
You are very welcome to join us either online (via Zoom) or in-person (Lecture Room 1). Please register here (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/214309484437)
On the issue of knowledge making and circulation, engineering science in the China of 1860s-1940 had unique characteristics that disrupt the idea of a universal approach to its history. Bamboo-reinforced concrete was an exemplar. In this story, the ideas and trials of introducing bamboo into the technology of reinforced concrete developed across nations, but also the borders of mechanical, naval, civil, and aeronautical engineering. The material condition of China, from bamboo, earth, brick and stone to cement and iron (“the relations of things”), played an epistemic role in making the engineering innovations. In mobilizing both craft and scientific knowledge of bamboo, the new trials did open up a challenge to engineering science of the time. This lecture will elucidate a way of knowing and working by modern engineers that has not been fully acknowledged in the history of science, and is not only a phenomenon of China. The research results also question the discipline-based narratives in the architectural history.
SPEAKER’S BIO
Coming from educational backgrounds in architecture, urban studies and conservation of architectural heritage, Chang-Xue Shu now works as a historian of science in the debates engaged in this very talk. Since 2017, she has been a postdoctoral fellow and instructor in KU Leuven (Dept. Architecture and The Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation). Her undertakings include “Fired Clay in Built Environment: The Western Heritage in China” (EU 2020) and “Mineral Building Materials in China. Rediscovering Built Environments in the Large Datasets of Chinese Local Gazetteers, 10–20th Centuries.” The latter is also affiliated to the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Dept. III) for research.
Date:
Wednesday, 24 November, 2021 - 13:30 to 14:30
Event location:
Lecture Room 1/ Online