Technocratic Visions: Engineers, Technology, and Society in Mexico

Technocratic Visions explores the role of engineers in Mexico's development, focusing on their influence during the mid-nineteenth century and the Mexican Revolution. It highlights engineering sites as places of societal creation and contests over representation, health, identity, and power.

Format: Hardback
Length: 302 pages
Publication date: 06 September 2022
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Technocratic Visions delves into the intricate interplay between technology, governance, and development in Mexico, a country that holds a significant historical significance as the birthplace of the first professional engineering school in the Americas. Contributors explore the profound influence of engineers, particularly civil engineers, mining engineers, military engineers, architects, and other infrastructural and mechanical technicians, in shaping the societal landscape.

Amidst a period of immense upheaval and transformation both domestically and globally, plagued governments sought to expand and modernize Mexico's engineering programs while simultaneously navigating the challenges of foreign invasion and adapting Western technologies to the existing precolonial and colonial foundations. The Mexican Revolution in 1910 marked a significant turning point, as state agents employed technocratic practices to suppress popular unrest and unify diverse communities through science, education, and infrastructure. Within this context of political unrest, Technocratic Visions presents engineering sites as both revered and contested spaces, where personal, local, national, and global interests converged to forge new forms of societal creation. These sites also became arenas for contests over representation, health, identity, and power.

By contextualizing current problems stemming from Mexico's historical development, this volume unveils the unique and global nature of these transformations. It sheds light on how Mexico's historical trajectory has shaped its technological advancements and governance structures, while also highlighting the broader societal implications of these developments. Technocratic Visions serves as a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and individuals interested in understanding the complex relationship between technology, governance, and development in Mexico and its broader regional and global context.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780822947486