The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader ed. by Sandra Harding (review)

Accounts of non-Western science and technology studies (STS) have proliferated in recent years. It was, however, not until Sandra Harding assembled this collection that students and researchers could turn to a single volume to acquire a good grasp of the intersection of STS and postcolonial theory. In The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader, the feminist editor, known for her "strong-objectivity" approach, suggests how a single framework could embrace the variety found in "worlds of science." The twenty-five classic essays in this volume, drawn from diverse disciplines over the past two decades, contrast the heterogeneous approaches to science found outside the globe's dominant states to the Western science that currently (and problematically) predominates.

Commenting on the prevailing Western standpoint in most science and technology writing, each entry offers concise, comprehensive, and pointed arguments that ask questions, introduce terms, and incite debates over controversial issues from early modern knowledge production to scientific cooperation in the twenty-first century, from imperialist and colonial sciences to indigenous knowledge. Besides examining the contested agendas of Western science, they also show how alternative approaches can better understand local class relations, cross-cultural cooperation, gender issues, democratization, and grassroots participation.

After Harding's introductory essay come the book's four discrete parts. Part 1, "Counterhistories," comprises seven pieces that challenge the dominant historiographies of Western sciences with the contention that they have been deeply informed by Eastern traditions—has the time come to think in terms of an "Oriental West"? The essays show the constructed nature of the heroic narratives chronicling the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution, noting the deliberate exclusion of female scientists from such histories. Two case studies show how specific forms of knowledge construction follow from systems of imperialism and colonialism: advances in transportation technology and the establishment of a global knowledge network.

Part 2, "Other Cultures' Sciences," shifts attention away from Europe, detailing institutional efforts to articulate and defend non-Western knowledge systems. These essays trace the decline of indigenous knowledge as a result of Western expansion, then examine the limitations of modern scientific rationality. Given these limitations, it follows that Western institutions stand to learn from other cultures' knowledge systems, which have responded creatively to their unique environments. Such cross-pollination, it is argued, will better our understanding of and appreciation for diversity.

Part 3, "Residues and Reinventions," reveals the dubious scientific and technological agendas related to post-World War II development. In a series of ethnographic studies of nongovernmental organizations, contributors discuss the construction of the third world, the creation of racial sciences, and the legitimization of twentieth-century gender norms; they even offer evidence of how nongovernmental groups have undermined biodiversity. In this part, the terms modernity and modernization, flattened by existing scholarly disciplines, are recast. What has been long dismissed as mere tradition and represented as marginal is recentered. This section is rounded out with helpful commentary on the uses and abuses of knowledge by the Western scientific establishment.

The last part, "Moving Forward: Possible Pathways," acknowledges the independent scientific trajectories of different societies while suggesting that their progress toward modernity leads to a certain alignment. The authors concentrate on the transformation of marginalized sciences in which East meets West and North meets South, providing tentative answers to the problem of pursuing science and technologies in diverse societies. They offer valuable insights on policy and funding priorities.

The essays in this reader are excerpted from accounts previously written and published elsewhere. As such, the contents tend to overlap. This flaw notwithstanding, Harding has succeeded in representing great geographical variety and historical depth, making her compilation an important reference book in the field of STS. The very scale of the undertaking makes the discovery of a single unifying theory unlikely, and Harding makes no pretense of having done so. The authors in this collection have proved that so-called modern European science benefited from cross-cultural long-distance collaborations.

The...