This commentary explores the politics of Dragos Simandan’s (2019) proposal to expand the concept of situated knowledge beyond social difference. I argue that while an expanded conception of situated knowledges is welcome, Simandan’s focus on de-politicized instances of situated knowledge ends up blunting the theory’s critical edge. Any attempt to expand situated knowledge beyond social difference must ensure that we do not lose sight of the ways that our embodied positions within fields of power affect the production of knowledge.
HarawayD (1988) Situated knowledges: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies14(3): 575–599.
2.
ProudfootJ (2015) Anxiety and phantasy in the field: the position of the unconscious in ethnographic research. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space33(6): 1135–1152.
3.
RoseG (1997) Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in Human Geography21(3): 305–320.
4.
SimandanD (2019) Revisiting positionality and the thesis of situated knowledge. Dialogues in Human Geography9(2): 129–149.
