Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society ed. by Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick

Abstract

Reviewed by: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society ed. by Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick Valérie Schafer (bio) Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society Edited by Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022. Pp. 460. Abstraction and embodiment are two intriguing and stimulating entry points into the history of computing, as demonstrated by this much-anticipated edited volume. There are several reasons for this interest: the concepts at the core of the book of course, which could only provoke interest and invite a reexamination of current research through the prism of these ideas; and then the editors themselves, Janet Abbate (professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech) and Stephanie Dick (assistant professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University), with their reputation in the field and ability to approach research into the history of computing in unusual and innovative ways. It is no coincidence that a stimulating chapter by Janet Abbate was included in another important book published in 2021 (and cited in the conclusion to this book), Your Computer Is on Fire, edited by Thomas S. Mullaney, Benjamin Peters, Mar Hicks, and Kavita Philip. The promise the two editors made to bring together "new histories of computing and society," as asserted by the book's subtitle, has been fully [End Page 611] realized. As with any edited book, readers will find some chapters more intriguing than others. But many titles and topics are provocative and/or attractive, really inviting one to dive in. Readers will also certainly have their own view, according to their intellectual and scientific leanings, on which to explore first: the ten chapters in the section on abstractions or the ten chapters on embodiments (with reprints of two seminal texts by André Brock and Lisa Nakamura). Of course, as is made clear in the book's introduction and indeed by its entire approach—highlighting areas of crossover, tension, friction, and discussion—the two themes are constantly intersecting. In the "Abstractions" section, the focus is on foundational concepts and theoretical abstractions, which are always viewed from the perspective of their societal implications. The "Embodiments" section is anchored in practice and in physical experience, in particular as influenced by embodied identities: the absence of embodiment, the invisible body, the racialized body, the body at work, the aging body, the disabled body, the relationship between mind and body. Ultimately, throughout the volume, computers are examined within society. They are appropriated, acculturated, confiscated, and disputed, which also constantly raises questions of power and asymmetry. The richness of this book, which fully reflects current research trends, is enhanced by its geographic (i.e., chapters on Singapore thanks to Jiahui Chan and Hallam Stevens and the Soviet Union by Ekaterina Babintseva, etc.) and chronological framework (with very interesting chapters on the 1960s and 1970s by Mar Hicks, Kelcey Gibbon, Lisa Nakamura, and Troy Kaighin Astarte, just to name a few). We can also underline the diversity of the authors (again geographic, with contributions from America, Europe, and Asia; disciplinary, such as history, sociology, information studies, digital humanities, and others; and chapters from both advanced researchers and early scholars). The emphasis put on the novelty of approach of these new histories—which are also new in their narrative framework, their conceptual entry points, their consideration of questions such as racialized labor or postcolonial identities, and their decentering from the machine—does not mean the historiographical genealogy has been abandoned. It is preserved in the introductory "state of the art" and in welcome references to the work of Michael Mahoney, William Aspray, Tom Misa, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Tom Haigh, Nathan Ensmenger, and many more (also of note in this context is the gender balance between the various contributors to Abstractions and Embodiments, exceptional enough in the field of the history of computing to warrant highlighting). Alan Turing's thinking and famous test provide another historical and historiographic anchor for the work—a common thread linking the editors' insights from introduction to conclusion, formulating and cementing the overall coherence of the work and the challenges it portrays. As Janet Abbate and Stephanie Dick unarguably assert, "The question of who has...