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Whiteness in Engineering
Tracing Technology, Masculinity and Race in Nepal’s Development
by
Janwillem Liebrand
Social Science Baha and Himal Books, 2022
17 February 2022, Thursday
6-7 pm (Nepal standard time) | 1:15-2:15 pm (Central European time)

Based on the strong impressions formed during his training as an engineer in the Netherlands and subsequent entry into the world of technology research in South Asia, Whiteness in Engineering retraces Janwillem Liebrand’s intellectual journey that revealed to him the connections between technology, masculinity and race in Nepal’s history of planned development. He constructs five dioramas to present different viewpoints on everyday engineering practices in the field of irrigation and water resources development. Together these dioramas permit readers to discern for themselves why it is that engineering has failed to fight for social and intellectual transformation and also why expert-led technology promotion in achieving global sustainability goals has come to reinforce—rather than challenge—the dynamics of gender discrimination, social exclusion, and male hegemony in society.

Speakers
Dipak Gyawali is currently Pragya (Academician) of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology  (NAST) and guest senior research scholar with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria. He conducts interdisciplinary research on technology-society interface from perspectives of cultural theory.

Chanda Gurung Goodrich is a Senior Gender Specialist, Gender Lead, Livelihoods at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). She holds an MPhil and PhD from the School of International Relations in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Her professional interest is in gender research in natural resource management, agriculture and livelihoods, especially for smallholder farmers.

Margreet Zwarteveen is an irrigation engineer and social scientist. She is a Professor of Water Governance at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, and at the Governance and Inclusive Development Group, University of Amsterdam. She studies water allocation policies and practices, focusing on questions of equity and justice. Her research includes the study of different institutional and technical modalities for allocating water and regulating water flows, and of different ways to understand or legitimise these.

Janwillem Liebrand works as an Assistant Professor at the International Development Studies group, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University. His research focusses on the practices and politics of land and water management, food security, and the role of science and technology expertise in promoting development interventions. His latest research is on decolonising communication in food security innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa—towards sustainable and fair policies and interventions.