Vivek Oak

Symmetrical Studies of Symbolic and Material Algorithmic Modes of Indian Handloom Weaving

Department of Society Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University

Supervisors: Prof. dr. Sally Wyatt (Maastricht University), Dr. Annapurna Mamidipudi (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin)

Background

Vivek S Oak is currently a fellow at Handloom Futures, a research collective based in Hyderabad, India that studies epistemologies of craft and sociotechnical relations of artisanal production. His research outcomes for the last five years – have contributed not only to scholarship but also towards making connections between scholars and artisans. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering with distinction from the University of Pune,  and spent three years at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University working towards his master’s degree.

Content

Located in the site of artisanal handloom networks in India, this research seeks to understand the nature of weaving algorithms and their role in mediating socio-technical relations. Given its contribution (in global and historical terms) to the development of various disciplines including mathematics and computing, this research proposes handloom weaving as a crucial site for the study of the material and symbolic modes of weaving algorithms. Understanding the origins and nature of algorithms may help in the building of resilient sociotechnical systems, that allow for a robust coexistence of diverse knowledge practices and imaginations, alongside dominant technological regimes.

Publications

Harlizius-Klück, Ellen, Vivek S. Oak, and Annapurna Mamidipudi. 2022.“Conflicting Threads. Technological Innovation and the Socio-technical Ensemble of Weaving”. Technikgeschichte 89, no. 1 (April 25, 2022): 35–62.

Book Review: Mamidipudi, Annapurna, and Vivek S. Oak. 2022. “The Crafts and Capitalism: Handloom Weaving Industry in Colonial India by Tirthankar Roy.” Technology and Culture 63, no. 1: 259-261.

Oak, Vivek S., Jörn Oeder and Annapurna Mamidipudi. 2023: “A Reader’s Guide to Ownership of Knowledge.” Ownership of Knowledge: Beyond Intellectual Property 483-502. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

Oak, Vivek S., and Soumithri, M. V. 2020. “Craft and queer ecology: rejecting binaries.” Seminar736 (December 2020): 45-50

Srinivasa, Gowri, Vivek S. Oak, Siddharth J. Garg, Matthew C. Fickus, and Jelena Kovacevic. 2008. “Voting-based active contour segmentation of fMRI images of the brain.” In 15th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, pp. 1100-1103