PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This article offers a new research agenda for the material history of infrastructure. Building on a revised cultural history of technology and new materialism, it suggests that materiality is a powerful analytical lens for researching infrastructure. In doing so, infrastructure is understood in a broad sense to include artefacts like bridges, water mains, and internet cables. The agency of material infrastructure is central to this piece. As the article argues, viewing infrastructure as a “material assemblage” highlights its various relational interactions with humans and non-humans. This adds to ongoing efforts to decentralize human agency. Two sections devoted to these complex and fluid relationships outline possible research approaches. In particular, spill overs from the histories of knowledge and power to the history of material infrastructure provide directions for future research. Taken as a whole, this article proposes that materiality is central to any understanding of infrastructure and concludes with a set of questions for further research.