Totemism

Marcus, I have an interest in the History of Military Technology as a form of "totemism". I strongly suspect that mil tech development is driven as strongly by cultural reasons as practical reasons, but am having trouble finding traction in actually approaching this from a research standpoint. Are there some "good" overview texts out there that would get me started?

Also, are there some schools with noteworthy PhD producing programs in this subject area? I am well-connected with Iowa State University's History of Technology and Science department, but for reasons of my own, I want to go elsewhere for my "sheepskin" if I can....

Hi 120mm,

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Originally Posted by 120mm

Marcus, I have an interest in the History of Military Technology as a form of "totemism". I strongly suspect that mil tech development is driven as strongly by cultural reasons as practical reasons, but am having trouble finding traction in actually approaching this from a research standpoint. Are there some "good" overview texts out there that would get me started?

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Good overview texts? That's tricky. Probably the best one is by Claude Levi-Strauss, Totemism (I have the translation by Rodney Needham, 1963 Beacon Press). I think you could get some traction on it by making a somewhat broader argument along the following lines:

1. military organizations are collections of "lineages" (para kinship networks)
2. lineages draw their validity from "eponymous ancestors"; this includes foundation myths, tribal "gnosis" (i.e. tribe specific knowledge), and culural patternings for using technology.
3. lineages have mythic "arrangements" with their founders, stories and, also, have sterotype myths of "proper conduct", both fictive and real (i.e. the "should" and the "would").
4. in order to sell to a lineage, a product or story must fit that lineages myths, including all of its patternings.

There's probably a couple of lines of logic I've left out, but I think that would ground your argument, especially since military organizations tend to be fairly "conservative".

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Originally Posted by 120mm

Also, are there some schools with noteworthy PhD producing programs in this subject area? I am well-connected with Iowa State University's History of Technology and Science department, but for reasons of my own, I want to go elsewhere for my "sheepskin" if I can....

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The best person I could recommend is a friend of mine, Philip Thurtle, at the University of Washington (http://faculty.washington.edu/thurtle/). Phil taught at Carleton for a couple of years and is both brilliant and, at the same time, a really nice guy open to new ideas. He teaches in the Comparative History of Ideas program (http://depts.washington.edu/chid/).

He would certainly be a good person to contact for information on a Ph.D. program (tell him I sent you :)).

Marc

If you want to see a good example of the technology totem idea, I'd recommend looking at the Air Force in particular. Their entire history has been centered around a number of technology totems.

Thanks for the help, Marc. I'll try to find and read the book and contact the individual you mentioned.

Everyone else, sorry for the hijack.

My senior thesis as an undergrad covered this exact subject, in the Air Force context, and how the development of the B-2 was an example. I didn't make a connection to totemism though.

I'll be interested in how this comes out for you 120mm.

Take a look here for a continuation of this discussion.