Introduction: Rethinking Technoscientific Globalisation with the Global South

Résumé :

The introduction of this book rethinks the dynamics of technoscientific globalisation by shifting the lens to the Global South and to actors often relegated to the margins of science and technology. Building on ethnographic case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the book explores how populations, firms, and institutions participate in innovation, production, extraction, consumption, and revaluation of technologies. Rather than being passive recipients, Global South actors actively shape technological markets through practices of adaptation, inventive copying, informal labour, and alternative value-making strategies. The book argues that looking at technoscientific globalisation “from below” reveals both the deep asymmetries structuring the global order and the diverse capacities of non-hegemonic actors to generate original innovations, infrastructures, and imaginaries. By bringing to light neglected contributions and constraints, the chapters collectively unsettle dominant North-centric narratives of science, technology, and capitalism, and contribute to debates on globalisation, development, and Science and Technology Studies (STS).