The Society for the History of Technologyhasnamed 91ɫ Professor Edward Jones-Imhotep the winner of the 2018– the most prestigious book prize on the history of technology.Jones-Imhotep isonlythe second faculty member of a Canadian university to ever receive the honour in its 50-year history.
Edward Jones-Imhotep
Jones-Imhotepisa member of the Department of History,Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LA&PS), where he teaches one of thedepartment’smost popular courses – HIST 1777: Disasters and History. Hewon the prize for his book.
The book examineshowtechnological failureshave shapedour understandings of the natural worldand the identities builtaroundthem. To illustrate that history, the bookfocuses on the role ofcommunicationsfailuresin defining the Canadian north, and the nation itself, during the Cold War.
“The bookreveals something we’ve overlookedfora long time: that technological failures mattertohistory. Nations andtheir identities haven’t been shapedsolelyby working technologies. They’ve also been shaped by failing machinesandbywhat those failures suggest about the natural world,”said Jones-Imhotep.“The previous winners of theEdelstein Prizeincludesome of the most influential books in thefield.It’san enormous honourtothink of my book alongside them. And it’s especially meaningfultohave my work recognized this wayonthe 50th anniversary of the award.”
InTheUnreliable Nation, Jones-Imhotep argues thatCold-WarCanadadefined itselfthroughthe relationship betweentheperceivedhostility of nature and the problematic behaviours of complex machines.In doing so,hesuggestshow two powerful ways of understanding nationsin general – the natural and the technological – mapped onto and shaped each other in the second half of the 20th century.
The Edelstein Prize, formerly known as the Dexter Prize, is awarded to the author of an outstanding scholarly book on the history of technology published during the three years prior. It was established in 1968. Jones-Imhotep accepted the prizeat an award ceremonyin October.