Event time:
Thursday, February 8, 2024 - 4:00pm
Location:
Online
Event description:
Yale Environmental History is pleased to host a virtual book talk by Dr Anto Mohsin. Click here to register.
Title: The Politics of Electrification in Indonesia Post World War II
Abstract: Following World War II, many emerging nations in Asia and Africa sought to build their nations using science and technology, and one of the key infrastructures they were keen to develop was the electric power system. Various countries took different pathways to electrify their territories, and these diverse approaches collectively form a crucial technological story of the second half of the twentieth century. The story of how and why Indonesia carried out its electrification efforts is the focus of this talk. As a central part of its nation-building project, the Indonesian state sought to supply electricity to the entire country, bringing transformative socioeconomic benefits across its heterogeneous territories and populations. While this project was driven by nationalistic impulses, it was also motivated by a genuine interest in social justice. The entanglement of these two motivations “nation-building and equity” shaped how electrification was carried out, including how the state chose the technologies it did. Private companies and electric cooperatives vied with the hegemonic state power company to participate in a monumental undertaking that would transform daily life for all Indonesians, especially rural citizens.
Bio: Anto Mohsin is an assistant professor in the Liberal Arts Program at Northwestern University in Qatar and an affiliated faculty member of the Science in Human Culture Program at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He is an interdisciplinary scholar of infrastructure, energy, and the environment specializing in Indonesia in the twentieth century with a broader interest in Southeast Asia. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in several journals including Sojourn, EASTS, and Arcadia, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal for short, engaging environmental histories. His book, Electrifying Indonesia: Technology and Social Justice in National Development, was published in December 2023.
Admission:
Free but register in advance