On Becoming a Lucid Theoretical Dreamer. Reflections on Academic Work Venturing Outside its Local Knowledge System
Issue: Vol 46 No. 1 (2017)
Journal: Bulletin for the Study of Religion
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
DOI: 10.1558/bsor.31008
Abstract:
Postcolonial and postmodern critique left us with a range of insights that have a fundamental impact on how we perceive our work as scholars. It has for instance seriously damaged the idea that there is a way to escape epistemology to some kind of ’real’ reality that lies beneath our versions of rendering reality intelligible. This confronts us with a fundamental dilemma: As we always write as situated observers there is no proper / unbiased way to write about ‘others’, however not considering ‘others’ is ethnocentric and therefore wrong as well. Forced to take a stance towards this dilemma, this essay expands on the questions at stake and indicates a possible positioning towards it.
Author: Anne Beutter
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