TechnoViews #15. 'Prototype Nation' | Silvia M. Lindtner (U. of Michigan)

Silvia LINDTNER, interviewed by Joseph BOSCO on 25 October 2022

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode, Dr. Lindtner explains what is the “maker” movement, and why she focused on this phenomenon. She discusses how she conducted ethnographic research in companies that can often be wary of outsiders, especially foreigners. She also discusses how making was appropriated by the Chinese Communist Party as part of the state’s tactics of hegemony, functioning not by coercion but by promising happiness. She explains two key concepts in the book, the “socialist pitch” and the term for maker, chuangke 创客, which has slightly different implications in Chinese. She also talks about the assumption many people make that there is something particularly Chinese about making, and how it has to become part of makers’ pitch for investors.

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