Abstract

VILLAGOMEZ-RESENDIZ, Radamés. Hydraulic Innovation and Technical Choices in Northern Morelos, Mexico. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.41, n.162, pp.86-103.  Epub Mar 02, 2021. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v41i162.743.

This essay presents a critique of the way anthropologists have challenged the concept of innovation that underlies processes of technological transference in northern Morelos Mexico). Based on an analysis of specialized literature supported by ethnographic fieldwork, we argue that if local knowledge embedded in hydraulic technologies involves historical modifications independent of changes promoted by appropriate technologies, and if these modifications entail remembrances of tradition, together with a projection towards the future (i. e. expansive memory), then the cultural change related to hydraulic technology could be conceived in terms of innovations through the concept of technical choices, as this concept has been employed in the anthropology of technology.

Keywords : Contingency; cultural change; expansive memory; historicity; innovation.

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