The Uses of Portability: Circulating Experts in the Technopolitics of Cold War and Decolonization
The Uses of Portability: Circulating Experts in the Technopolitics of Cold War and Decolonization
This chapter provides an overview of the phenomenon of the mass circulation of technical experts to different locations around the world as an effect of the Cold War and decolonization in the years following World War II. Under the aegis of of the United Nations technical aid program—envisaged as the tool to neutralize the heightened tensions of the Cold War—experts belonging to different areas of science and technology were encouraged to offer their expertise to other parts of the world. Thus, experts who had spent a considerable portion of their working life amassing knowledge suited to their local environment found that their knowledge had become useful in different political and social environments. The chapter argues that this portability of expert and expertise was precipitated by the “hot” politics of the Cold War.
Keywords: decolonization, Cold War, technical experts, expertise, portability, knowledge, United Nations, technical aid program
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