"Mission Civilisatrice": Fixing scientific evidence and other practices of neo-colonialism in social sciences

In: International review of qualitative research: IRQR, Volume 1, Issue 4, p. 491-513

Abstract

In this paper, we take issue with the supposed superiority of specific epistemologies, methodologies, and research practices, as well as the neocolonialist practices of discovery, development and interpretation of evidence. Furthermore, we illustrate how the colonization of evidence is enacted through discourses of domination, subjectivication, and civilization. We maintain that these practices and discourses intend to establish more unified, narrow, and easily controlled fields of science. In reaction, we argue that the dismantling of systems of domination and hegemony may result from the scientists' commitment to cross the political and methodological boundaries of their practice. Evidence is not about a particular type of data or knowledge, but about how researchers consciously and responsibly operate in various epistemological, methodological, and empirical spaces. Thus, evidence cannot be defined; it can only be described within specific cultural and epistemological contexts.