Science Must Fall? - UCT Fallist discusses Decolonization

[Techne]

In China they used the scientific method AND indigenous ethnopharmacological knowledge to identify antimalarials. They can do the same here... but no...

 

[porchrat]

In China they used the scientific method AND indigenous ethnopharmacological knowledge to identify antimalarials. They can do the same here... but no...

We're going to do one better. We'll develop sangoma-powered weapons that can strike anybody anywhere with lightning. We'll be a superpower by this time next week.

 

[Nerfherder]

Rules shmules.. would have been funnier if the person had told the speaker to sit down and shut up, adults are involved now.

Yes, but they were bating her - they knew what would happen and they were right. They pushed it just enough to get this response and let them make dicks of themselves

 

[C4Cat]

For example - if you do a search for traditional medicine on google scholar, you get over 3 million results. When you browse the first few pages you get scientific studies on Indian traditional health care, on traditional medicine in Turkey, on traditional medicine in China , in Iran, in Sri Lanka and, believe it or not, even in Africa
So why is the idea or concept of african universities being afrocentric in their approach to science feel so anathema to some people here

 

[porchrat]

For example - if you do a search for traditional medicine on google scholar, you get over 3 million results. When you browse the first few pages you get scientific studies on Indian traditional health care, on traditional medicine in Turkey, on traditional medicine in China , in Iran, in Sri Lanka and, believe it or not, even in Africa
So why is the idea or concept of african universities being afrocentric in their approach to science feel so anathema to some people here

Like I said, there could be some active ingredient in a plant somewhere and it could do some good. Lightning striking people with black magic. Nah brother. BS. We'd have to chuck the physics textbooks out the window for that to be true.

 

[Lucas Buck]

For example - if you do a search for traditional medicine on google scholar, you get over 3 million results. When you browse the first few pages you get scientific studies on Indian traditional health care, on traditional medicine in Turkey, on traditional medicine in China , in Iran, in Sri Lanka and, believe it or not, even in Africa
So why is the idea or concept of african universities being afrocentric in their approach to science feel so anathema to some people here

Those studies are being done in South Africa. Google the South African Traditional Medicines Research Group (SATMERG).

 

[access]

For example - if you do a search for traditional medicine on google scholar, you get over 3 million results. When you browse the first few pages you get scientific studies on Indian traditional health care, on traditional medicine in Turkey, on traditional medicine in China , in Iran, in Sri Lanka and, believe it or not, even in Africa
So why is the idea or concept of african universities being afrocentric in their approach to science feel so anathema to some people here

they did it for themselves and now they have it today.

here its cried that it wasnt done and now its someone elses fault.

they used exactly the same scientific methods as everyone else. but its not good enough in africa because it doesnt give the desired outcome, therefor its racist.

 

[C4Cat]

they did it for themselves and now they have it today.

here its cried that it wasnt done and now its someone elses fault.

they used exactly the same scientific methods as everyone else. but its not good enough in africa because it doesnt give the desired outcome, therefor its racist.

That's what's being called for. For the academic institutions here to be more afrocentric in their studies.

 

[C4Cat]

Those studies are being done in South Africa. Google the South African Traditional Medicines Research Group (SATMERG).

That's an example of what I'm talking about, thanks

 

[Dastrix]

For example - if you do a search for traditional medicine on google scholar, you get over 3 million results. When you browse the first few pages you get scientific studies on Indian traditional health care, on traditional medicine in Turkey, on traditional medicine in China , in Iran, in Sri Lanka and, believe it or not, even in Africa
So why is the idea or concept of african universities being afrocentric in their approach to science feel so anathema to some people here

Because science is non-cultural. It's a methodology. What you are talking about is why you don't see studies *about* African traditional healthcare. In the body of science this is a very, very small topic. Unless there is significant merit (i.e. possible discovery) its not worth studying.

I know that's not what you want to hear, but science isn't about making people feel better that their particular culture has been given sufficient attention. It's about furthering the body of human knowledge. There's no afrocentric or eurocentric science. Only science.

Traditional medicine is hardly a reflection of the body of scientific knowledge either. Any "traditional" or "natural" "medicine" that has proven to be effective is now simply called medicine.

 

[Acid0]

Why the drive to get rid of the science the rest of the world uses.
Why not create a course or study direction to keep it Afrocentric in the universities.

 

[C4Cat]

Because science is non-cultural. It's a methodology. What you are talking about is why you don't see studies *about* African traditional healthcare. In the body of science this is a very, very small topic. Unless there is significant merit (i.e. possible discovery) its not worth studying.

I know that's not what you want to hear, but science isn't about making people feel better that their particular culture has been given sufficient attention. It's about furthering the body of human knowledge. There's no afrocentric or eurocentric science. Only science.

Traditional medicine is hardly a reflection of the body of scientific knowledge either. Any "traditional" or "natural" "medicine" that has proven to be effective is now simply called medicine.

It's what you choose to focus your research on that's the thing. science is science but there is such a thing as eurocentric or afrocentric science in that it determines what gets investigated and what gets ignored and what gets ridiculed and what gets prioritised.

 

[C4Cat]

Why the drive to get rid of the science the rest of the world uses.
Why not create a course or study direction to keep it Afrocentric in the universities.

That's what I'm saying. If you look at my initial post I said the call to get rid of science is stupid but that it could be more afrocentric in it's use here

 

[porchrat]

That's what's being called for. For the academic institutions here to be more afrocentric in their studies.

In my experience most scientific investigations performed in this country have relevance to this country. It is usually necessary in order to secure funding. Science in this country is already afrocentric.

These FMF idiots just don't know that because they're not part of the scientific community. They're scientifically illiterate.

 

[Dastrix]

It's what you choose to focus your research on that's the thing. science is science but there is such a thing as eurocentric or afrocentric science in that it determines what gets investigated and what gets ignored and what gets ridiculed and what gets prioritised.

Actually no. There's no afrocentric quantum physics, physics, thermal dynamics, the list goes on. If an idea is completely ridiculous and utterly impossible (sending lightning, tokolosh, witchcraft) it doesn't warrant investigation. The body of knowledge against the possibility of these things being true is so vast it is rightly met with ridicule.

Prioritisation comes from a number of factors, not limited to the amount of money available for the research, the potential for discovery and the worth of investigating something further when there already is a wealth of study on the topic.

I understand what you are looking for, but beyond some biology and basic medicine you are wasting your time with "afrocentric" science. It's just science.

 

[access]

In my experience most scientific investigations performed in this country have relevance to this country. It is usually necessary in order to secure funding. Science in this country is already afrocentric.

These FMF idiots just don't know what because they're not part of the scientific community. They're scientifically illiterate.

fynbos!

 

[Dastrix]

Why the drive to get rid of the science the rest of the world uses.
Why not create a course or study direction to keep it Afrocentric in the universities.

Because focusing on one region's science is either very limiting or just simply not applicable. People are either interested in a scientific field or not.

 

[Cray]

That's what's being called for. For the academic institutions here to be more afrocentric in their studies.

Do you have an example of any other African country that has made it's Scientific institutions "Afrocentric"?

 

[Knyro]

It's been done before.

Deutsche Physik (literally: "German Physics") Aryan Physics (German: Arische Physik) was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s opposed to the work of Albert Einstein and other modern theoretically based physics, labeled "Jewish Physics" (German: Jüdische Physik). The term was taken from the title of a 4-volume physics textbook by Philipp Lenard in the 1930s.

Under the rallying cry that physics should be more "German" and "Aryan," Lenard and Stark, with backing from the Nazi leadership, entered on a plan to pressure and replace physics positions at German universities with people teaching their preferred theories.

there is a great irony in the Nazis' labeling modern physics as "Jewish science", since it was exactly modern physics—and the work of many European exiles—which was used to create the atomic bomb.

tfw your racism cost you the nuclear arms race lol. Even more ironic was the fact that Philipp Lenard himself was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1905. :crylaugh:

 

[C4Cat]

Actually no. There's no afrocentric quantum physics, physics, thermal dynamics, the list goes on. If an idea is completely ridiculous and utterly impossible (sending lightning, tokolosh, witchcraft) it doesn't warrant investigation. The body of knowledge against the possibility of these things being true is so vast it is rightly met with ridicule.

Prioritisation comes from a number of factors, not limited to the amount of money available for the research, the potential for discovery and the worth of investigating something further when there already is a wealth of study on the topic.

I understand what you are looking for, but beyond some biology and basic medicine you are wasting your time with "afrocentric" science. It's just science.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1315909/

science is part of culture, and how ... science is done largely depends on the culture in which it is practised

However, most modern studies of the world around us are empirical, and there is clearly much more to understand than what is being studied by scientists. The understanding of complex systems remains a major challenge for the future, and no scientist today can claim that we have at hand the appropriate methods with which to achieve this. Thus, we cannot discuss the future of science without taking into account the philosophical problems generated by the study of complexity. Modern, or Western, science may not be best suited to fulfil this task, as its view of the world is too constrained by its characteristic empirical and analytical approach that, in the past, made it so successful. We should therefore remember the contributions of other civilizations to the understanding of nature—in particular the perception of the world in areas such as Asia and Africa, or among the indigenous people of Australia and South America. Such traditional or indigenous knowledge is now increasingly being used not only with the aim of finding new drugs, but also to derive new concepts that may help us to reconcile empiricism and science.​