Towards a Political Ecology of Knowledge: Reconnecting with the Legacy of Radical Science Movements

Abstract

In this essay we discuss the legacy of the 1970s French radical science movement (FRSM) and the way they influence contemporary collective inquiries and personal commitments concerning different forms of knowledge production. Among other things, The FRSM explored new ways of knowledge production, inside and outside of academic institutions. However, due to the institutionalization of those critiques and their foundational function for disciplines like STS, their legacy has gradually become forgotten. The current renewal of critiques of science since the 2000s allows for a reconnection with this particular history. We show that even if many of them were more interested in a return to an ideal autonomous science, they often also underline the fact that precariousness constitutes a condition that reveals what really counts in science and knowledge. We claim that in this way those critiques help us seriously consider the living and dead aspects of science and, consequently, how to protect or undo them. Critical approaches that consider actual asymmetries and precariousness could become the basis for a political ecology of knowledge.