Scholars at Montreal’s Concordia University are planning to trace and counter what they say is colonialism in physics, which they describe as a “social field” rather than one of “pure knowledge.”
The project’s website says the initiative “explores ways and approaches to decolonize science, such as revitalizing and restoring Indigenous knowledge, and capacity building.” It also aims to develop “a culture of critical reflection and investigation of the relation of science and colonialism.”
As reported by The College Fix, “Decolonizing Light” is led by Concordia associate professor Tanja Tajmel, who also serves as a special advisor to the dean for equity, diversity and inclusion. Tajmel’s bio on Concordia’s website notes that “her main interest lies in investigating the politics of STEM education and how STEM education and STEM discourses impact social (in)equity.”
Fifteen other people are working on the project, including Concordia associate professors Louellyn White and Ingo Salzmann, who are co-investigators.
The “Decolonizing Light” initiative, which was established in 2021, receives funding from the federal government’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, which was created to support “interdisciplinary, high-risk/high-reward, transformative research led by Canadian researchers working with Canadian and international partners.”
Tajmel, White, and Salzmann co-authored a paper with Donna Kahérakwas Goodleaf, who serves as Concordia’s director of decolonizing curriculum and pedagogy, in which they explained that they are exploring decolonization in physics because the discipline “plays a special role in the field of science due to its unique scientific authority.”
“Physics is commonly regarded as the ‘most objective’ and the ‘hardest’ science,” the scholars wrote, “it fundamentally defines scientific key concepts such as energy, matter, force, light, space and time, for all the other sciences.”
The scholars say “it is important to understand physics as a social field rather than as ‘pure knowledge’ independent from social values and decisions.” They chose to focus on light due to its ubiquity across societies, languages and cultures.
As part of their project, they said they intend to create “courses together with Indigenous scholars and Knowledge Keepers in which students approach questions from different or culturally diverse perspectives, as well as de-centering Eurocentric Western science.” They will also aim to “critically investigate if and how physics itself has contributed and still contributes to colonialism.”
The scholars say the purpose “is not to find new or better explanations of light; we are not seeking to improve scientific ‘truth’. Rather, our project initiatives are motivated by the marginalization of women, Black people, and Indigenous peoples, particularly in physics.”
“We regard marginalization as a key problem for social equity as well as for scientific quality. Furthermore, we regard scientific knowledge that reproduces bias and colonial power relations as non-acceptable.”
The Concordia scholars’ “Decolonizing Light” project received criticism from other scholars, including McGill University chemistry professor Patanjali Kambhampati.
Kambhampati told The College Fix that “Decolonizing STEM is absurd and offensive to many people of all walks of life, including me as a scientist born in the third world.”
“There are no other or alternative ways of knowing. There is only science.”
Kambhampati also slammed the feds for funding the project, saying neither “the Canadian government nor should the US government fund these quackery pursuits.”
True North reached out to the “Decolonizing Light” project and Tajmel for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.
