Liberation Science-ology: Indigenous and Postcolonial Frameworks for Science and Religion

This chapter argues that Indigenous and postcolonial frameworks (IPFs) are the place to start in any STS-based way of thinking about science and religion. Beginning the conversation about science and religion from Indigenous and postcolonial frameworks means that we do not have to get caught up in the old ontological and epistemological trap, which pairs a banishment of the spiritual from the material realm with the impossibility of proving its truth. IPFs highlight how the trap is colonialist in its construction and show that it is possible to start by simply ignoring it, by treating its premises as null. IPFs moreover give us the tools for transformation, an aspiration towards which STS is increasingly reaching. In reference to the praxis-orientation of liberation theology, I playfully suggest designating this form of STS as ‘liberation science-ology’. As a transformative rather than a disciplinary methodology, IPFs can work productively from either the theological or the scientific end of the spectrum of ‘science and religion’ studies.