Histories of Knowledges from Below

In this seminar, we attempt to centre marginalized actors, informal systems, and non-Western epistemologies in order to challenge Eurocentric, institutional narratives of “progress,” “scientific achievement,” and “innovation.” To recover marginalized knowledges, we believe that scholars must employ tools from social history, postcolonial theory, and feminist epistemology. Thus, we deal with the larger issues concerning the relative positions of the field of the history of knowledge to the fields of histories of science and technology. We live in times where existence and significance of knowledge rarely translates into action capable of averting the collapse of our world. The rise of fascism, right-wing movements, and conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and elsewhere dominate media cycles, yet the knowledge documenting these crises often fails to spur political change. Instead, it risks deepening inertia or legitimizing violence. In this context, dismantling Western science’s residual hegemony—its foundational myths of superiority and objectivity—might seem foolish. Yet the Western scientific knowledge itself has long weaponized these myths, positioning Western technoscience as inherently progressive while marginalizing or erasing alternative frameworks. It is a challenge—one that must be confronted if we are to understand the origins of the disregard and distrust of knowledge and truth. Our focus, however, will shift to how specific formations of Western knowledges and technology—through historical narratives—have historically positioned themselves as superior, and how to recover and situate the knowledges that were deemed inferior.