The AT Reader
Theory and Practice in Appropriate Technology
Carr, Marilyn
Publisher: Intermediate Technology, New York, USA
Year Published: 1985
Pages: 468pp ISBN: 0-942850-03-3
Resource Type: Book
Cx Number: CX7305
An introduction to appropriate technology, both as an explanation of the concerpt and extensive examples and applications.
Abstract:
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Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter I: Appropriate Technology: History, Concepts and Evolution
1. Definitions and Concepts
Schumacher on Intermediate Technology
What are 'Appropriate Technologies'?
A Few Definitions of Technology
One World Technology
Nyerere on Self Reliance
Gandhi on the Swadeshi Movement
Mass Production or Production by the Masses?
The New Paradigm of Work
Useful Work Versus Useless Toil
2. Criticisms and Rejoinders
Entertaining Objections
Appropriate Technology, Technological Dependence, and the Technological Gap
Underdeveloped Technology?
New Wine in Old Wineskins
Political and Technological Change
Not Revolution… but Changing the Rules
3. New Development Theories
Appropriate Technology and Basic-Needs Strategy
Basic Human Needs
Conventional Versus Alternative Development Strategies
An Opposing View
On Misreading Development Economics
4. Society and Environment
Appropriate Technology through the Ages
The Steady-state Economy
The Low-entropy Economy
The Affluent Society
The Technological Society
Giantism, Complexity and Violence
Drift, Distention or Decentralization?
What is Simplicity?
Ingenious Simplicity
A Fable for Tomorrow
The Acid Rain Impact
5. Growth and Transformation of AT Movement
Acceptance and Integration
Appropriate Technology - Ten Years On
Economics As If People Mattered
Chapter II: Technology Choice - Theory and Practice
1. Choices of Technology: Theoretical Aspects
The Technological Choice
Choosing Appropriate Technology
Choice of Products
Appropriate Products and Technology
Choice of Projects
A Choice of Methodologies
Simple is Optimal
2. Choice of Technology: Some Considerations
Why Big May Be Bad
The Advantages of Intermediate Technology
Economies of Scale
The Rural/Urban Split
3. Choice of Technology: Some Examples
Mini Sugar Technology in India
The Costly Lessons of a $550m Dream
Small-scale Fisheries in Kerala
Irrigation Tube-wells in Bangladesh
Why Inappropriate Choices are Made
What Managers Say
Chapter III: Technology for Development - Agriculture, Food Processing, Livestock
1. Food Production
Food Situation Worsening in Africa
Which Crops?
Women and Winter Vegetables
The Food Factor
The New Age of Organic Farming
Amaranth Rediscovered
The Winged Bean- A Nutritious Alternative
American Agriculture: Energy Efficiency versus Labour Efficiency
Can Western Agriculture Be Sustained?
How Pumps Divide the Peasantry?
The Bamboo Tube-well
When the Hills Came Tumbling Down
Mechanical Innovations in Africa
Ethiopia's One-Ox Job, Farm Power for Farm Women
2. Post-Harvest Systems and Food Processing
Cereal Post-Harvest Systems
Designing manually operated threshers
The Carnage of the Green Revolution
The Flour Didn't Taste Right
New Presses for Old!
Banana Chips in Papua New Guinea
3. Livestock and Animal Health Care
Are Animals Appropriate?
Small Animals for Small Farms
Poultry Production
Milk and Money in India
Progress- But for Whom?
The Poor Man's Cow
When Camels are Better than Cattle
Barefoot Vets
Chapter IV: Technology for Development - Health, Water, and Sanitation
1. Health
Barefoot Health Care in China
Prevention is Better than Cure
From Traditional Birth Attendant to Genuine Health Auxiliary
Is Medicine Healthy?
Barefoot Surgeons
A Handful of Light
Barefoot Technology
Indigenous Healers
Oral Rehydration: a cure is not a solution
Fluoride - Too much of a Good Thing?
2. Water and Sanitation
Water, Sanitation, Health - For All?
Is The World Water Decade Drying Up?
Enough for Survival, Enough for Health
A Pump for All Countries
Clean Water in Kola
Water Lilies and Broken Pumps
Pour-Flush Latrines in India
Zimbabwean VIP
Community Participation as Token Jargon
Chapter V: Technology for Development - Biomass and Renewable Energy
1. Biomass: Stoves, Trees, Agricultural Residues
There's No Smoke Without Fuelwood
Cigarettes Can Damage your Health and Someone Else's Land
Stove Programmes - Experience to Date
Owner-Built Birth Control
For Every Child A Tree
Barefoot Foresters
Fuel-efficient Stoves
Eucalyptus- An Inappropriate Choice
The Tree Wall
Coconut Power
Papyrus: A New Fuel for the Third World
2. Renewable Energy
Digging Mankind out of the Nuclear Rut
A Questioning View
A Renaissance for Wind Pumps
Generating the Links between Engineers and Rural Villages in Papua New Guinea
Light in the Valley
Old-timers with a Future
World Bank Cools Sun Pump Rush
New Solar Infrastructure
Chapter VI: Technology for Development - Housing, Construction and Transportation
1. Housing and Building Materials
Shelter for All
The Use of Mud Brick an Economic Necessity
Mud Bricks, An Adze and bare Hands
Lime or Cement?
Self-help Housing in Brazil
Soli, The Block Maker
2. Roads and Bridges
Labour-based Road Construction Comes of Age
Better Bridges
3. Low-cost Transport Devices
The Transport Needs of the Poor
Efficient Localized Low-cost Vehicles
The Korean Chee-geh
Chinese Wheelbarrows
The Appropriate Transport Module!
The One-Wheel Cycle Trailer
Cycle Rickshaws for the Poor
Illich on Transport
Chapter VII: Technology For Development - Manufacturing, Mining and Recycling
1. Small-scale Manufacturing
Wool Spinning in Pakistan
Weaving Technology in Bangladesh
Handmade Paper
Local Soap Manufacture in Ghana
Low-cost Pharmaceuticals
Vast Needs and Small Firms
The Nikart
Problems of Expansion
Brass Casting and Metalwork in Ghana
2. Small-scale Mining
The Forgotten Partner
Barefoot Geologists
Small is Expensive
Old Methods to Meet New Needs
Mica Mining in Sri Lanka
3. Recycling
New Jobs from Old Rubbish
Trash Technology
Social Structure and Solid Waste
Garbage Recovery on a Human Scale
Chapter VIII: Generation and Transfer of Technology
1. Sources of Technology: Formal and Informal
Generation of Appropriate Technologies
Innovation Effort in Appropriate Technology
Rural Innovation in Indonesia
…And in America
Innovators' Movement in Nicaragua
Informal R&D in Rural Communities
Indigenous Technical Knowledge
The Unglamorous Poor
The Process of Indigenous Technical Change
2. Technology Transfer and Aid
The Acquisition of Technological Capability in Developing Countries
The Caribbean Example
Transnationals and the Third World
Multinationals Revisited
What Went Wrong?
The Mythology of Aid
Choice of Technology: Donor's Approach
Chapter IX: The Dissemination of Technology
1. National Policies and Development Plans
Creating the Right Climate
Planning for Rural Industrialization
Technology Policy in the People's Republic of China
India's Five Year Development Plan 1978-83
Kenya's Four Year Development Plan 1979-83
An Unfavourable Environment
2. Channels of Technology Diffusion
Dissemination of Appropriate Technologies
Social Carriers of Techniques
3. The Commercial Route: Promoting Small Enterprises
AT and the Entrepreneur
Creating the Right Environment for Small Firms
Small is Appropriate
4. The Extension Route
Asking Appropriate Questions
The Ten Commandments of Project Planning
A Successful Methodology from India
The Organization of an Appropriate Storage Technology Programme
Chapter X: Education, Training and Communication
1. Formal Education
Education for What?
Climbing Jacob's Ladder
The Diploma Disease
Education: Desired for the Rural Poor
Reorienting Science Education
AT In the Higher Education System
Thoughts of a Field Worker
University-based AT Groups (ATDCs)
Appropriate Engineering Education
2. Formal and Informal Training
The Rural University
Botswana's Brigades
Training Village Entrepreneurs - Easier Said Than Done
Village Polytechnics in Kenya
Training Pump Mechanics in India
One Tier or Three?
Training for Self Reliance in Peru
Why We Need Female Extension Agents
Time to Learn for Women
3. Communication
Producing Basic Literacy Materials
Communication Technology
The Barefoot Microchip
Solar TV?
Video in the Village
They Can't See the Point
People's Theatre: an Appropriate Medium
Subject Headings
