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VIRTUAL IAS Festival: Knowledge Equity: A concept for the post-pandemic world

05 May 2021, 5:00 pm–6:30 pm

América Invertida, by Joaquin Torres- García.

We are delighted to invite you to this lecture by our IAS director, Professor Nicola Miller. Commentary from Dr Elizabeth Marcus. Chaired by Prof Phiroze Vasunia.

This event is free.

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Free

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Institute of Advanced Studies

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Epistemological problems are at the root of our contemporary concerns. In the context of the multiple environmental emergencies the concept of the Anthropocene calls into question the separation of social science from natural science, entails due recognition of the many kinds of knowledge not based on modern scientific method and prompts a rethinking of the conceptual boundary between human and non-human agents. From the sphere of artificial intelligence, advances in machine learning and robotics raise questions about which, if any, knowledge practices are distinctively human. In the political world, there is widespread mobilisation against (a particular form of) rationality; against expertise and complexity; and against claims to evidence-based objectivity. Instead, populists champion emotions, customs and common sense; boldness and simplicity; and a division of the world into us and them, conjuring up bogeymen from clouds of ignorance and sending notions of truth and fact into freefall amidst a cacophony of ‘fake news’ and a phantasmagoria of conspiracy theories. Long-established relationships between information, impartiality and truth have thereby been eroded. Yet, for all the discussion of inequalities of health, income and environment during the pandemic, little attention has yet been paid to inequalities of knowledge, beyond investigating how school closures adversely affected children who were already disadvantaged. In light of all the above, this lecture explores the concept of knowledge equity, arguing that one of its great strengths is to highlight how questions about what constitutes knowledge are inextricably bound up with questions about the creation and distribution of knowledge. In that respect alone, knowledge equity is a necessary concept if we are to work towards new ways of knowing and being in the world.

Speakers

Professor Nicola Miller - Director Institute of Advanced Studies

More information about Professor Nicola Miller

 

Dr Elizabeth Marcus - Visiting Research Fellow at the IAS

More information about Dr Elizabeth Marcus

 

Chair

Prof Phiroze Vasunia - Deputy Director of IAS (Arts and Humanities)

More information about Prof Phiroze Vasunia

 

 

This talk forms part of the IAS fifth anniversary festival on the theme of ‘Alternative Epistemologies’.

IAS 5 year anniversary logo

All welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need assistance on the day, and follow this FAQ link for more information and to read our virtual events code of conduct. All of our events are free, but you can support the IAS here.

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