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Computing in the Time of Decolonization
Co-Hosted by the Department of Sociology-Anthropology and the Department of Computer Science.
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Please join us for the next talk in the Sociology-Anthropology Colloquium, which is co-hosted by the Department of Computer Science. Zoom Link here.
Abstract: Computing in the Age of Decolonization explores the history behind a striking paradox: India is renowned for producing world-class engineers and tech leaders, yet it captures only a small share of global technology profits, often serving instead as a source of skilled labor for Western firms. This talk traces India’s ambitious effort, from the 1950s to the 1980s, to build a self-reliant computing industry and shows how computing was imagined as central to national sovereignty, economic development, and scientific modernity. Focusing on projects such as the TIFRAC computer and the expulsion of IBM, the talk shows how this vision of technological independence was undermined by Cold War geopolitics, unequal trade relations, US corporate power, and internal policy choices that prioritized technical services over long-term investment in research and manufacturing. Recovering this lost history, the talk argues that technological sovereignty depends not only on technical expertise but also on confronting political and social structures rooted in colonial rule.
Bio: Dwaipayan Banerjee is an Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at MIT. He is the author of Enduring Cancer: Life, Death, and Diagnosis in Delhi (Duke University Press, 2020), Computing in the Time of Decolonization (Princeton University Press, 2026), and co-author of Hematologies: The Political Life of Blood in India (Cornell University Press, 2019).