Knowledge and Power

Knowledge and Power

THESIS: The contemporary discourse on knowledge suffers from a triple deficit

• It lacks critical reflection on the fundamental changes in the notion of “knowledge” in the 20th century.
• It does not recognize the intensely political nature of the production of knowledge.
• It does not deal with the necessary changes in higher education.

Towards a new concept of knowledge and higher education

• Recognizing the profound changes in the conception of knowledge (Part 1)
• Understanding the significance of the politics of knowledge through the discourses of development, gender, and democracy (Part 2)
• Pointing out the implications for the future of higher education (Part 3)

Ashis Nandy and the politics of knowledge

“The old, clichéd saying, ‚knowledge is power,’ has acquired a new potency in recent years. For nearly a century it was fashionable to study how interests and material forces of history shaped knowledge. The world that has come into being in the aftermath of World War II seems to have reversed the relationship…

…It has forced us to recognize that dominance is now exercised less and less through familiar organized interests, such as class relations, colonialism, military-industrial complexes, multinational corporations, and the nation-states. Dominance is now exercised mainly through categories, embedded in systems of knowledge. … Universities have come to share this new power, for they specialize in handling categories.” (Ashis Nandy 2000, 115-116)

…It has forced us to recognize that dominance is now exercised less and less through familiar organized interests, such as class relations, colonialism, military-industrial complexes, multinational corporations, and the nation-states. Dominance is now exercised mainly through categories, embedded in systems of knowledge. … Universities have come to share this new power, for they specialize in handling categories.” (Ashis Nandy 2000, 115-116)