In this special issue, we argue that light(s) and darkness(es) should be understood in their multiplicity, and that they constitute two aspects of the same phenomenon. They should, therefore, be studied in relation to each other.
In the British Raj, colonial lighting oscillated between “Tool of Empire” and everyday technology. While the British used modern lighting to visualize power and accentuate social differences, it was also a contested object of appropriation and protest.
When oil was found in water depths larger than 150 meters in the North Sea in the 1970s, a new and revolutionary concept was needed to be able to support deck structures for production of petroleum.