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IHSS

Global Epistemologies (Taking Stock of New Cultural, Medical, Political, and Social Knowledges)

Global Epistemologies (Taking Stock of New Cultural, Medical, Political, and Social Knowledges) research programme (2022 - 24) seeked to take stock of various forms of local knowledge around the world in a range of domains (cultural heritage, healing, environment, etc.). The programme pursued this through:

  1. a funding call (open to Queen Mary University of London staff and PhD Students to carry out own research),
  2. a series of conversations (exploring indigenous and non-anthropomorphic forms of knowledge and decolonising global cultural heritage),
  3. developing large-scale research grants (“Local Experiences of Early Cinema in the British Colonies” and “Colonialism in High School Education around the World”).

The programme was headed by Dr Mario Slugan.

Three general topics were explored in the programme's talks:

1. indigenous knowledge:

  • indigenous knowledge as a source of Enlightenment (especially debates stemming from recent work of Graeber and Wengrow),
  • traditional knowledge and medicine & botany (especially psychoactive substances),
  • epistemic evaluation of indigenous knowledge (potential for evaluative epistemological meta-systems).

2. decolonising global cultural heritage:

  • decolonising art collections (especially the British Museum),
  • archaeology, ancient DNA & ancient burial sites (especially questions of respecting final resting places),
  • decolonising the film archive and global film heritage (especially British Film Institute).

3. non-anthropomorphic forms of knowledge:

  • animal forms of knowledge (especially species who learn),
  • AI and machine learning (especially learning based on human prejudices),
  • flat ontologies which do not privilege epistemic subjects (especially object-oriented ontologies).

These events were live discussions between two experts (a global expert and an expert from QMUL) with Dr Slugan as moderator. 

Three general topics are explored:

1) indigenous knowledge:

  • indigenous knowledge as a source of Enlightenment (especially debates stemming from recent work of Graeber and Wengrow),
  • traditional knowledge and medicine & botany (especially psychoactive substances),
  • epistemic evaluation of indigenous knowledge (potential for evaluative epistemological meta-systems).

2) decolonising global cultural heritage:

  • decolonising art collections (especially the British Museum),
  • archaeology, ancient DNA & ancient burial sites (especially questions of respecting final resting places),
  • decolonising the film archive and global film heritage (especially British Film Institute).

3) non-anthropomorphic forms of knowledge:

  • animal forms of knowledge (especially species who learn),
  • AI and machine learning (especially learning based on human prejudices),
  • flat ontologies which do not privilege epistemic subjects (especially object-oriented ontologies).

These events are live discussions between two experts (a global expert and an expert from QMUL) with Dr Slugan as moderator. If you have an idea about a potential topic and/or would like to participate in some form, please contact Dr Slugan (m.slugan@qmul.ac.uk).

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