Notes from Global Asia

How to Write a Global History of Knowledge

Abstract

Recent developments in the field of global Asia and the global South are paying attention to alternative ways of knowing and historicizing how they circulate. Such work helps the field produce critical geographies in our writing of the history of knowledge that decenter persistent Eurocentric narratives of the origins of science. They help avoid comparative and even civilizational frameworks that continue to shape our understanding of the modern world. To write a global history of knowledge that is both broad and deep in scale, scholars need to examine far-flung global networks that facilitate the movement of ideas and materials, along with conducting a deep and careful understanding of local contexts and regional specificity. By considering how circulating “global” knowledge and mobile objects “anchor” and manifest locally, the field reduces the risk of flattening the “global” and sacrificing specificity, depth, knowledge of locale(s) and regional expertise.