MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

May 17, 2022
Ignorance and Its Resources: China and Beyond

The theme of the roundtable discussion is on the systematic production of ignorance in China. Continuing the discussions of culturally and politically induced ignorance in agnotology and more recently in the history of knowledge, we attempt to explore, through examples and perspective from our respective fields, how ignorance, non-knowledge or disknowledge is actively sought after and strategically produced for varied purposes in past and present Chinese politics. By doing so, we invite the audience to reflect with us on whether and how studying the “dark side” of knowledge, particularly on the basis of Chinese and other extra-European experiences, could be useful for historians of science.

Making science(s), after all, involves not only the work of ordering knowledge but also that of articulating and assigning values to forms of non-knowledge and non-knowers. We also hope that the roundtable will facilitate discussion on how “ignorance” can be seen as shaped by sources other than political institutions and structures: by, for example, technological cultures or ecological relationships.

Abstracts

  • Anna L. Ahlers (LMRG): "Whodunit?" Strategies of Ignorance/Non-knowledge in Contemporary Chinese Politics

    Government cadres in the People’s Republic of China today are no longer merely loyal Party soldiers and knowledgeable practitioners, but they are expected to possess specialized and formally-certified expertise in fields and for issues deemed politically important. At the same time, they increasingly seek external advice by professional scientists, scholars and experts on specific policy questions on a regular basis. It therefore seems acceptable now that not all knowledge and expertise is necessarily present within the political leadership or the administration and that there is even a value in scientifically innovating and developing it elsewhere. Chinese government officials can thereby focus more exclusively on their given mandates again, and can ‘outsource’ responsibility more easily, it seems.

  • Emily Mae Graf (FU Berlin): Ignorance as a Virtue. Barefoot Doctors in Global Health

    There might be few other times and spaces where “ignorance”, or knowledge alternative to scientific, academic and institutionalized forms of learning, was as celebrated and promoted as it was in China during the Cultural Revolution. Knowledge and especially elite, urban-dwelling knowers were presented as a corrupting force in the medical field. Graf investigates the various narratives about knowledge and non-knowledge that were constructed around so-called “barefoot doctors”, countryside health workers who received a minimum of education and training in medicine during the 1960s and 70s. She argues that not knowing was sometimes seen as a form of safeguarding and purifying knowledge. To ensure, however, that this virtuous form of ignorance did not risk being misunderstood as a lack of knowledge, or barefoot doctors construed as incompetent healers whose treatments were ineffective or whose decisions were ill-informed, visual and narrative strategies were put in place to create a lionized image of barefoot doctors, who would put the effectiveness of their knowledge/ignorance to the test by using their own bodies for practicing medical procedures and testing the safety and effectiveness of their materia medica. 

  • Chun Xu (Dept. III): “Ignorance is a Rare Quality 难得糊涂.” Gentlemanly Non-Knowledge in the Late Imperial Statecraft

    Many students of Chinese history have observed and tried to explain such a phenomenon: throughout most of the late imperial period, “practical learnings (shixue 實學)” only achieved political salience in times of (perceived) dynastic distress and decline. Why was statecraft knowledge not a pressing concern for the imperial court and the ruling learned class during times of (perceived and proclaimed) Great Peace? Xu contends that, as the boundaries of governance became increasingly extended in the second millennium, and power increasingly concentrated in the court, the late imperial state saw the paramount need for a unified rationality and causality of statecraft to be shared by the officialdom. In many aspects, the late imperial state relied on the systemic production of ignorance within the scholar-official class of administrative and local particulars, as well as the promotion of a negative attitude towards certain practical knowledges and certain local ways of knowing, to render the state centralized and manageable.

Organizer(s)
Contact and Registration

This will be a hybrid meeting, taking place in Room 265 and via Zoom. To register, please contact Chun Xu (cxu@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).

2022-05-17T13:30:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2022-05-17 13:30:00 2022-05-17 15:00:00 Ignorance and Its Resources: China and Beyond The theme of the roundtable discussion is on the systematic production of ignorance in China. Continuing the discussions of culturally and politically induced ignorance in agnotology and more recently in the history of knowledge, we attempt to explore, through examples and perspective from our respective fields, how ignorance, non-knowledge or disknowledge is actively sought after and strategically produced for varied purposes in past and present Chinese politics. By doing so, we invite the audience to reflect with us on whether and how studying the “dark side” of knowledge, particularly on the basis of Chinese and other extra-European experiences, could be useful for historians of science. Making science(s), after all, involves not only the work of ordering knowledge but also that of articulating and assigning values to forms of non-knowledge and non-knowers. We also hope that the roundtable will facilitate discussion on how “ignorance” can be seen as shaped by sources other than political institutions and structures: by, for example, technological cultures or ecological relationships. Abstracts Anna L. Ahlers (LMRG): "Whodunit?" Strategies of Ignorance/Non-knowledge in Contemporary Chinese Politics Government cadres in the People’s Republic of China today are no longer merely loyal Party soldiers and knowledgeable practitioners, but they are expected to possess specialized and formally-certified expertise in fields and for issues deemed politically important. At the same time, they increasingly seek external advice by professional scientists, scholars and experts on specific policy questions on a regular basis. It therefore seems acceptable now that not all knowledge and expertise is necessarily present within the political leadership or the administration and that there is even a value in scientifically innovating and developing it elsewhere. Chinese government officials can thereby focus more exclusively on their given mandates again, and can ‘outsource’ responsibility more easily, it seems. Emily Mae Graf (FU Berlin): Ignorance as a Virtue. Barefoot Doctors in Global Health There might be few other times and spaces where “ignorance”, or knowledge alternative to scientific, academic and institutionalized forms of learning, was as celebrated and promoted as it was in China during the Cultural Revolution. Knowledge and especially elite, urban-dwelling knowers were presented as a corrupting force in the medical field. Graf investigates the various narratives about knowledge and non-knowledge that were constructed around so-called “barefoot doctors”, countryside health workers who received a minimum of education and training in medicine during the 1960s and 70s. She argues that not knowing was sometimes seen as a form of safeguarding and purifying knowledge. To ensure, however, that this virtuous form of ignorance did not risk being misunderstood as a lack of knowledge, or barefoot doctors construed as incompetent healers whose treatments were ineffective or whose decisions were ill-informed, visual and narrative strategies were put in place to create a lionized image of barefoot doctors, who would put the effectiveness of their knowledge/ignorance to the test by using their own bodies for practicing medical procedures and testing the safety and effectiveness of their materia medica.  Chun Xu (Dept. III): “Ignorance is a Rare Quality 难得糊涂.” Gentlemanly Non-Knowledge in the Late Imperial Statecraft Many students of Chinese history have observed and tried to explain such a phenomenon: throughout most of the late imperial period, “practical learnings (shixue 實學)” only achieved political salience in times of (perceived) dynastic distress and decline. Why was statecraft knowledge not a pressing concern for the imperial court and the ruling learned class during times of (perceived and proclaimed) Great Peace? Xu contends that, as the boundaries of governance became increasingly extended in the second millennium, and power increasingly concentrated in the court, the late imperial state saw the paramount need for a unified rationality and causality of statecraft to be shared by the officialdom. In many aspects, the late imperial state relied on the systemic production of ignorance within the scholar-official class of administrative and local particulars, as well as the promotion of a negative attitude towards certain practical knowledges and certain local ways of knowing, to render the state centralized and manageable. Qiao YANGChun Xu Qiao YANGChun Xu Europe/Berlin public