Revolutionary Epistemology

Organised by the editors and contributors to two major Handbooks in these fields, the Routledge Handbook of Ignorance Studies (2^nd Edition, 2022), and the Routledge Handbook of Failure Studies (2023), this afternoon colloquium is an invitational workshop exploring the promise and/or futility of new, disruptive epistemologies at a time of global catastrophe.

At a time of crucible change and global unrest, the failure of different micro, meso and macro-level institutions has rarely seemed starker. What is the role of ‘revolutionary epistemology’ in this time? By revolutionary epistemology, we mean approaches to knowledge that challenge conventional framing of knowledge vs ignorance binaries, overturning traditional understandings of the ‘triumph’ of knowledge over ignorance in creating new social identities and forms of power.

Does this mean that attention to ignorance to date has been a ‘success’ or a ‘failure’? How can the growing field of ‘failure studies’ strengthen understandings of the political implications of revolutionary challenges to ‘normal’ understandings of power/knowledge/ignorance?

We are accustomed to think that contemporary forms of hesitancy, noncompliance and non-responsiveness are linked with institutional past harm, neglect and abandonment. Youth and university anxieties are revalued as hedonic forms of resistance. But do they lead to meaningful change? Especially in contexts of post-truth, are interacting forms of ignorance and failure capable of transforming epistemic crisis into revolutionary potential? Or do they simply compound withdrawal, ignorance and even denial? 

Do the growing subfields of ignorance studies and failure studies act as handmaidens to conspiratorial logics? Or are they essential tools in piercing the hypocrisies of liberal rationality at time when the authoritarian underpinnings of the post-WWII ‘liberal consensus’ have rarely been clearer.

Organising Committee

Lukas Griessl, University of Tubingen

Matthias Gross, University of Jena

Pawel Kubicki, Warsaw School of Economics SGH

Linsey McGoey, University of Essex

Adriana Mica, University of Warsaw

Mikolaj Pawlak, University of Warsaw

A small number of travel bursaries for students and ECRs are available.  

To express interest in participating in this discussion, please write to Dr Lukas Griessl from the Department of Sociology.