Embracing refused knowledge: The turning processes

This open access book explores contemporary practices that challenge science, arguing that this matter cannot be simply disregarded as a new manifestation of “anti-scientism”. It scrutinizes the processes through which knowledge claims, refused by established institutions and the scientific community, seek legitimacy. Assuming an agnostic analytical stance, it explores the actors involved in such processes and their social worlds, their interactions with epistemic institutions, and the ways in which they enact such refused knowledge in their daily lives. Drawing on a three-year mixed-method research project, this collection demonstrates how refused knowledge can be seen as a distinct mode of knowing, employed in response to the uncertainties of everyday life. Thus, it offers a deeper understanding not only of how refused knowledge garners credibility, but also of how knowledge at large – including scientific knowledge – emerges from specific sociotechnical assemblages. The third chapter by Paolo Volonté highlights how endorsing and embracing a body of refused knowledge is much more than a merely cognitive act. Indeed, refused knowledge enacts the shaping of communities of people engaged in a contentious relationship with science, thus involving interpersonal bonds, networks and social relations that exceed mere instrumental objectives and shape a feeling of belonging. Belonging to a refused knowledge community is a milestone in a personal biography that often involves costs or, in any event, important changes in work and social relations, political choices, health choices and body care practices, etc. It is, therefore, not simply a cognitive, but also an emotional, material, behavioural and social transition enacting collective identities.