[Reader-list] First posting: 'Workshop boys of coimbatore- City and Tacit Knwoledges'

[Sunandan K.N.]

Hello all,

I am Sunandan and this is my first posting as Sarai independent fellow. I am
a Malayalee and now I am doing PhD at the Centre for Studies in Science
Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

I have an (much clichéd) interdisciplinary background: B-Tech in Production
cum Plant Engineering, MA in Sociology and MPhil in History of Technology…..


Now the research project:

The very idea of city is indiscernible with some or other aspect of
technology; and city is the place where technology 'happens'. If somebody
wants to mention technologies in other places it could be represented only
through hyphenated words: rural-technology or indigenous-technology. My
attempt is to focus on this 'normalization' of the relation between city and
technology.

I am planning to analyze the 'informal training process' (which is usually
mentioned as 'apprentice form' against professional training) of workshop
boys who work in different type of workshops such as small foundries,
automobile engineering etc. at Coimbatore. We know that the role of the
workshop boys is critical in maintaining the transport system in any city.
But they are usually not trained in the 'modern' institutional centers; and
their knowledge is usually considered as tacit knowledge. I wish to explore
through this study the nature of the training, the question of power in
production of this knowledge and in general the question of relevance of the
dichotomy of modern and nonmodern practices.

The study will start with direct interaction with the workshop boys who are
at different stages of their training and expertise. I will try to gather
information regarding their background – formal educational, caste and
economical – through informal interviews. At this stage I am also looking
for the comments of workshop owners regarding their expectation and method
of training of these 'technicians'. I would also like place this technical
training in comparison with other type of formal trainings.

In second stage I would analyze the life of the workshop boys outside the
workshop. What are the expectations at home and what are their responses to
those expectations? As earners, even though meager amounts, at an early age,
how do they view job, leisure, city-life and politics? These are some of the
questions that could be raised at this stage. The most important point I am
trying to put forward is that, the two processes – their life as technicians
and their life as city dwellers – are not separable.

I wish to visually document some of these moments – especially of their
work, and different locations of their presence – and then partially
describe it through written narratives. These narratives in different Media
would form the basis of this study and they themselves could become an
archival source for further interpretations.
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