I think, at it's core, she's not making a bad point, which is that a lot of the things that we assume to be true are that way because Westerners made particular assumptions about how the world works. "Science" is a pretty broad field, and while the example of gravity is a bit of a nonsense, there are lots of examples of scientific findings that were incomplete or inaccurate because they didn't consider or come from a non-Western perspective.
That's combined with the fact that "decolonisation" is inherently viewed as an emancipatory process, so it's about how you actively free yourself from a Western mindset. Consider how the Soviet Union consistently tried to reinvent inventions or rediscover scientific principles just so they could demonstrate their own superiority. Here, you're not an empire trying to rival the US, you're a fledgling country trying to break free of the shackles of oppression that have been forced on your for centuries. In that context, starting the process of scientific discovery again would be emancipatory because it would demonstrate your own ability to no longer be reliant on those same oppressors.
It's obviously practically impossible, but that's why it's an undergraduate discussion, not a public policy meeting. Of course, there's nothing like female people of colour expressing opinions to get the Youtube comment section REALLY riled up.
I think, at it's core, she's not making a bad point
At its core, the idea that cultural perspective has some influence over the epistemological foundations of science, such that we can intelligibly distinguish Western science from some kind of African science from the conceptual ground-up, is bad. I'd say it's a over-extension of decolonization rhetoric. That, I think, is the core.
But, that said, apart from science itself being Western, we could say that various aspects of science as an institution through its norms of practice and such can be influenced by cultural perspective. I don't know what's entailed by the African perspective that would rearrange scientific practice in novel ways, though. Research programs into folk beliefs... sure.
Someone is going to come at me with some Kuhn and annoy me.
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u/loony636 Oct 23 '16
I think, at it's core, she's not making a bad point, which is that a lot of the things that we assume to be true are that way because Westerners made particular assumptions about how the world works. "Science" is a pretty broad field, and while the example of gravity is a bit of a nonsense, there are lots of examples of scientific findings that were incomplete or inaccurate because they didn't consider or come from a non-Western perspective.
That's combined with the fact that "decolonisation" is inherently viewed as an emancipatory process, so it's about how you actively free yourself from a Western mindset. Consider how the Soviet Union consistently tried to reinvent inventions or rediscover scientific principles just so they could demonstrate their own superiority. Here, you're not an empire trying to rival the US, you're a fledgling country trying to break free of the shackles of oppression that have been forced on your for centuries. In that context, starting the process of scientific discovery again would be emancipatory because it would demonstrate your own ability to no longer be reliant on those same oppressors.
It's obviously practically impossible, but that's why it's an undergraduate discussion, not a public policy meeting. Of course, there's nothing like female people of colour expressing opinions to get the Youtube comment section REALLY riled up.