TRANSTEC · Transnational networking, knowledge circulation and technological change in early modern East Central Europe. The case of Hutterite artisans (c.1560-1720)

My research is focusing on knowledge circulation and technological change in early modernEurope. Drawing on the sociology of ‘sociotechnical’ change, it investigates how various patterns of transnational networking facilitated technological innovation. Using the case of dissemination of faience in East Central Europe in the context of the Anabaptist migration (c.1560-1720), I will explore such questions as how a network becomes productive and how transnational non-economic ties become sources of technological change? The project operates with two basic concepts in the history of technology: circulation and contact zones. My research is supported by a database on artifacts and people based on archival, printed, and archeological evidence. Two contributions are expected. 1. Illustrating how interactions gained shape and substance from specific local contexts; and 2. The project will bring in a dialogue between Eastern and Western Europe in the field of history of technology. By refuting linear transfer, the project will introduce East Central Europe as a site of technological change.