Watches were among the most complex material artefacts in the 18th Century world, and 18th Century watchmaking centres are celebrated as centres of precision engineering skill and innovation in industrial engineering. This presentation is concerned not with the recognised centres of Britain, Holland and Switzerland, but with the networks of Black watchmakers in the 18th Century Caribbean, and their innovative skill in precision engineering. To engage with these Black watchmakers on their own terms, the presentation brings together oral histories and material culture with archives, newspapers, and published works. By focusing on the practices and priorities of these precision engineers, the significance and reach of their work begins to be uncovered. Related documentary evidence in the trial transcript of an 18th Century Old Bailey record has the potential to turn popular understanding of the British industrial revolution on its head. This presentation aims to show how little that outdated narrative matters, because the purposes of the Black precision engineers mean so much more.
Jenny Bulstrode | The Cogs and the Wheels in the Webs of Resistance
01.07.2024 | Material Migrations Online Lecture Series
Jenny Bulstrode is Lecturer in History of Science and Technology at University College London. During her doctoral research at the University of Cambridge, she held a Junior Research Fellowship at Jesus College; as well as Caird; Royal Observatory; Antiquarian Horological Society; and Scientific Instrument Society fellowships, among others, researching cultural and technical histories of metallurgy, glass-, and clock-making. Awards for her published work include: an International Committee for the History of Technology Daumas Prize; an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Sarton Prize; and a British Society for the History of Science Singer Prize. Her most recent research was reported by the Guardian; BBC World Service; and NPR; and the subject of a Jamaican government press release on reparations. She is listed among Apollo Magazine’s top 10 ‘thinkers’ in Art and Tech.
Registration link: https://eu02web.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/u5Erf-mvqz8tHtJYke_Y4M7yVY40PX4TSBvN
This talk is part of the online lecture series "Material Migrations" connected to the Gerda Henkel Foundation research project "Material Migrations: Mamluk Metalwork across Afro-Eurasia", directed by Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo and Vera-Simone Schulz.