Osiris, Volume 24: National Identity: The Role of Science and Technology

This latest volume of Osiris, National Identity: The Role of Science and Technology, explores the ways in which modern science and the nation-state have mutually interacted since the Enlightenment. The contributors argue for the formative role of science and technology in the creation of national identity, and with examples drawn from eastern and western nation-states, they argue that possession of scientific and technological resources became a marker of national character; the first states to develop this power nexus of science, technology, and bureaucracy went on to become globally dominant and widely imitated.  This volume traces the significance of this relationship from its beginnings in the West to its dissemination into the postcolonial world.

Carol E. Harrison is associate professor of history at the University of South Carolina.