Power, Myths, Materiality: A Multilingual Reflection over the Conditions for Knowledge Production in Times of Political Turbulence

Abstract

During 2016 to 2018 the research node "Science, validation, partial perspectives: Knowledge production beyond the norms," create spaces for transdisciplinary meetings at Uppsala university. In spring of 2017, the node arranged a journey to California in the USA, for MA candidates, PhD candidates, lecturers, and researchers. The aim was to meet with academics, activists, and artists to discuss the conditions for knowledge production in relation to the current political situation, in which ideas of "post truth" and "alternative facts" have surfaced. We visited the Scandinavian Studies and the Gender and Women's Studies departments at UC Berkeley, and the Science and Justice Research Center at UC Santa Cruz. This multilingual essay, written in the months following the trip, is a collective, rhizomatic reflection over the relationship between narratives, cultural identities and truths; privilege and politics; language and reality; art and science; potential and risk in boundarycrossing encounters. ; Camilla Wallin Bergström heter numera Camilla Wallin Lämsä