“Another knowledge is possible” by Sousa Santos

The modern world is more connected than ever before and globalisation is ensuring that its benefits such as technology, employment and capital are now available to poorer countries as well. It has also made the western world aware that most of these countries have a deep-rooted culture. While the western world is acknowledging their cultural differences with other parts of the world, Portuguese professor Sousa Santos in his book “Another knowledge is possible” brings to the fore the reality that the western world has failed to give due importance to the knowledge originating from those cultures. The author urges the wider community to respect the traditions and knowledge of the various cultures and use it in conjunction with modern knowledge for the overall benefit of the society.

Countries like India, China, and Brazil made great strides economically in the last few decades. These countries also have a strong culture and indigenous knowledge-base which has been passed down several generations. The problem is that in the last few decades or so, most of this knowledge has been side-lined (due to globalisation) and the knowledge prevalent in the western world has been taken as the sole basis of accurate knowledge, which of course is not completely correct as we all know now, and which the author also highlights.

History shows that rulers in the past destroyed several alternative forms of knowledge and the social groups that relied on them, to impose their own beliefs and knowledge. Because the western world ruled over most other countries of the world, their knowledge has always been considered superior. The author refers to this aspect by stating that “Colonialism has come to an end as a political relationship, but not as a social relationship”, which indicates why many find it difficult to believe in home-grown knowledge or dismiss them easily.

In the past, knowledge of various cultures have been ignored in the name of irrationality or superstition, or simply because they had no scientific backing, or were suppressed because it was seen as potential threat to the capitalist economy. Most international agencies still operate on the premise that the South has all the problems and the North has the knowledge and solution to all those problems. They believe that science will help the South (the less developed parts) overcome superstition and ignorance from their society, which currently doesn’t have the resources to carry our big-scale experiments.

The author says that there’s a whole world that lives outside of our perception when we allow ourselves to be driven primarily by Western knowledge, and it’s a pretty valid observation, something that will resonate with all the developing countries. While in most cases it’s because the modern knowledge is considered superior, in some cases, the truth that native knowledge highlights is ignored or kept hidden for commercial exploits.

For a long time, foreign companies have blamed “fat” in our food as the main source of most of our health problems. However, they hid the fact that “sugar” was the primary offender because that would have impacted the sales of most of their food products, which are high on sugar. On the other hand, ancient Indian knowledge has always prescribed consumption of food items like Ghee, which though high on fat offers several health benefits.

As the western world meets the countries from the developing world with strong cultural roots, there has also been a rise in conflicts between the knowledges from the two Worlds. Western knowledge is backed scientifically and most of it is proven whereas most of the indigenous knowledge doesn’t yet have scientific backing, but the local population has almost complete faith in them. While science based, modern knowledge is seen as neutral and having authority, these characteristics are not associated with traditional knowledge which is often seen as irrational/magical.

It’s only in the last couple of decades or so that sociologist and experts have started challenging the fact that western knowledge / scientific backed knowledge is the only correct source of knowledge. Their argument is that indigenous knowledge is the outcome of socially organized practises involving different types of intellectual resources, and science should reach out to other forms of knowledge and practices.

The fact that countries like Brazil, China, India with strong cultural background and indigenous knowledge have been doing well economically in the last decade or so has also helped the cause, as these countries have started asserting their belief in their native knowledge and are unwilling to accept whatever the western world asks them to believe. For a long time, social scientists did not recognize local forms of knowledge as being central to the process of development. However, the author says that it is time to take a different view of what knowledge should constitute.

Another concern is that, in its quest for development, North has got rid of most of the green cover in the South thus robbing it of its bio-diversity. While industrialization did result in capital inflows in the poorer countries, it also took a heavy toll on environment and also destroyed the social life around it. The natives have always believed in living in harmony with nature and enormously respect their traditional knowledge.

To sum it all, author Sousa Santos in his book “Another knowledge is possible,” highlights the fact that alternatives to western knowledge have emerged in several countries throughout the developing world, and with countries like Brazil, China and India taking centre-stage in world politics and economics, indigenous knowledge should and can no longer be brushed aside under the garb of being irrational or whimsical.

The author stresses on the need to bring together diverse forms of knowledge and cultures. For a long time, indigenous knowledge has been suppressed and not acknowledged or promoted by multi-national companies, whose sole intention was to make profits. The author also points to the rising conflicts between scientific and non-scientific knowledges, and says that a large number of people around the world still find it difficult to access most of the information and scientific-technological knowledge, which is commonly available to the western world.

The need of the hour is to have a society that is more inclusive, where people are more considerate and trust one another, and where there is an effort and intention to understand native knowledge; only then a society can call itself more civilised and progressive. In order to build a more democratic and just society, there is a need to acknowledge the existence of “different kinds” of knowledge and their contribution to the society. The author clearly makes his stand clear by making the statement “We have the right to be equal when difference breeds inferiority and the right to be different when claims of equality threaten our right to identity based on shared experiences and histories”.