
Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities
Sandra Harding
Describing the work of the post-Kuhnian science studies scholars Bruno Latour, Ulrich Beck, and the team of Michael Gibbons, Helga Nowtony, and Peter Scott, Harding reveals how, from different perspectives, they provide useful resources for rethinking the modernity versus tradition binary and its effects on the production of scientific knowledge. Yet, for the most part, they do not take feminist or postcolonial critiques into account. As Harding demonstrates, feminist science studies and postcolonial science studies have vital contributions to make; they bring to light not only the male supremacist investments in the Western conception of modernity and the historical and epistemological bases of Western science but also the empirical knowledge traditions of the global South. Sciences from Below is a clear and compelling argument that modernity studies and post-Kuhnian, feminist, and postcolonial sciences studies each have something important, and necessary, to offer to those formulating socially progressive scientific research and policy.
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About Sandra Harding
Reviews for Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities
Nancy Tuana
Isis
“[A] stunning synthesis of research from post-positivist, feminist, and postcolonial science studies scholars.”
Bonnie Shulman
Technology and Culture
“[T]he philosophical—and human—imperatives that led [Harding] to write this book are extremely important, and the book itself opens possibilities that philosophers must explore.”
Emily R. Grosholz
Women's Review of Books
“It seems that a work of this nature is long overdue and, will significantly improve the communication between modernity theorists and those working in feminist or postcolonial studies.”
Carolyn Anderson
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
“This is an ambitious and impressive book. . . . Harding’s book is a significant contribution to the literature on science, feminism, and postcoloniality. It is certainly a step in the direction of the transformation of science and politics that is Harding’s goal.”
Susan Hekman
Contemporary Sociology