Sources: colonialism

An extensive and compelling review of two new works on the history of science that challenge the traditional Eurocentric view and the tendency to reduce the path of modern science to a story about a few Great Men. These books cut through the complex relationships of global knowledge creation in the age of European colonialism, on the one hand, and the role of indigenous peoples and common people constructing knowledge through craft and experience, on the other. A nice summary question from the article, attributed to Peter Dear, is the question “what is the history of science the history of?”

Reviewed are the books Horizons: the Global Origins of Modern Science by James Poskett, and From Lived Experience to the Written Word: Reconstructing Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern World by Pamela H Smith.

A refreshingly thoughful discussion of the historical path of our thinking about and the cultural manifestation of racism. Helpful in broadening one’s perspective beyond the overly simplistic political context of the moment.