How loud subversive rationalisation can get: Tak tak, an unlikely case for democratisation of technology from rural Anatolia

Abstract

Tak tak is a type of improvised agricultural machinery. Tak taks are exclusively made in rural artisan shops in small Anatolian towns. The main component of a tak tak is a single cylinder internal combustion engine called "pancar motoru". Pancar motoru is a type of small and mobile diesel water pump engine that is designed and produced for the purpose of draining underground water which is then used to water the crops. In order to build a tak tak, this engine is placed on top of a tractor trailer and almost all other parts of the vehicle are recovered from scrapyards and automobile graveyards. These vehicles have been crafted in the west of Central Anatolia Region since 70's and the craftspeople who made these vehicles clearly have taken the pancar motoru out of its intended purpose independent of any major industrial or technical process. Could Tak tak, which is often considered as a soft replacement for a tractor, can be much more? The engine is a product of mass production. It has a clear-cut function that is it was designed to execute. It is traditionally rational. The craftspeople who came up with the idea this engine can also turn wheels is another story. The invention of tak tak defies norms of the technical and changes how the engine is rationalized. Marcuse and Feenberg criticise modern technological society on the basis of technical reason moving beyond its scientific use, damaging the experience of humanity by imposing quasi-scientific ontologies into experience. Technological malleability can challenge this modern technical hegemony by a process Andrew Feenberg calls subversive rationalization. Tak tak, an improvised field vehicle that uses a water pump engine as the source of propulsion is a clear example of subversive rationalization and not only does it defy capitalist technological hegemony, but tak tak also opens up new possibilities and spatial considerations for Feenberg's theory of democratic rationalization.