Techne

The Techne series publishes books in all fields of history that examine the skills, techniques, technologies or material cultures of knowledge, including media. With an emphasis on the notion of “technique”, the series includes topics and approaches that go beyond the traditional history of technology.

Techniques and skills have been developed and employed by artisans and inventors, and are present in a wide variety of settings. They play a role in grinding natural materials to create dyes and paints, in the playing of musical instruments, in the intricate gestures of a magical performance, in the tacit knowledge involved in a scientific experiment, as well as in the spiritual techniques of many religions. The editors invite contributions that study techniques, skills and training regimes in a broad variety of fields and cultural domains.

Knowledge is often produced at the intersection of a diversity of material cultures that have developed around artefacts, natural objects, or even the human body. The editors encourage the combination of practice-based and material culture approaches and invite submissions with new analytical and historiographical approaches, including reflexive contributions to the historiography of techniques and studies of technique-related concepts.

The series welcomes book proposals that focus on the time period from the Renaissance up to the present. Studies of any geographical region are welcome. The editors are open to a variety of historiographic traditions, as well as to sociological, anthropological, ethnographic, and especially transdisciplinary approaches. The series publishes volumes in English, French, or German. We publish single- or multi-authored volumes, edited collections, as well as source editions.

Techne includes two subseries, each with a specific thematic focus:

• Global Matters: https://www.brepols.net/series/TECHNE-GM
• Media Performance Histories: https://www.brepols.net/series/TECHNE-MPH