Paper long abstract:

Once upon a time, the academic discipline of the history of science mainly occupied itself with the occurrence of the Scientific Revolution in the West and its consequences. In recent years however, and with a particular nexus in The Netherlands, our understanding of the Scientific Revolution has started to change. As a result, the history of science seems to be gradually transforming into a broader history of knowledge. The underlying assumption is that all knowledge that seeks for regularities and patterns in nature and culture is worth of systematic study. (Rens Bod, A World of Patterns). This has opened up a research agenda in three directions. First, the humanities within the Western tradition are no longer regarded as the antithesis of the sciences but on a continuum with them. (Rens Bod, A New History of the Humanities, ) Second, knowledge being generated and used within practical traditions, such as the visual and the performing arts, are now deemed worthy of systematic study as knowledge. Within the Dutch context, Sven Dupré is an important proponent of this direction (Knowledge and Discernment in the Early Modern Arts), as is Henk Borgdorff as a theoretician of artistic research within an academic context (Art & Academia). Third, the discipline is opening itself up to non-Western forms of indigenous knowledge production. (Bonaventura de Sousa Santos, Epistemologies of the South and The End of the Cognitive Empire, among others). In my talk I want to invite scholars to understand their research within this context. What all three directions seems to have in common is that they are questioning the notion of rationality and objectivity as understood in the sciences (Lorraine Daston, Objectivity), as well as the division between nature and culture (Jürgen Renn, The Evolution of Knowledge). In this sense, indigenous (African) knowledge might be indispensable in intellectually tackling the global challenges of the 21st century, which ultimately root in Western scientific conceptions of the division between nature and culture.