Alternative Models of Knowledge as a Critique of Epistemic Power Structures – Introduction

Abstract

Based on four case studies from India and South America, this Special Issue aims to analyse ‘Indigenous’ knowledge practices and ontologies that challenge prevailing epistemological orders and paradigms. The projects and initiatives discussed are mostly considered as alternative to the ‘Western’ knowledge system, but, at the same time, they refer to it and even appropriate particular strategies that have become typical of institutionalised knowledge production and transmission. The introduction to this Special Issue proposes an anthropological perspective on this matter. It discusses relevant approaches of anthropology that deal in manifold ways with the concept of ‘Indigenous’ or ‘alternative’ knowledge (e.g. Ward Goodenough, Harold Conklin, Evans-Pritchard, and Franz Boas). I contextualise the discourse on Indigenous knowledge in space and time, and also address the assumed dichotomy between ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Western’ knowledge systems. ‘Alternative’ or ‘Indigenous’ knowledge is not fixed, but rather draws on transformed, revitalised and (re)constructed epistemologies and techniques. Finally, I reflect on the ethics of anthropology in regards to researching and representing alternative (and often marginalised) forms of knowledge.