There is a view in the global academic community that Indonesian scholars participate in scientific development as though merely riding the wave of current trends.
This is particularly apparent in the social sciences and humanities. Indonesian academics often reference new scientific theories from scholars worldwide in their teaching, research, or even as discussion topics with their peers.
In the 1990s, most scholars were eager to talk about postmodernism (criticism on the foundations of modern knowledge), while in the 2000s, the cultural studies perspective (breaking down the political and historical aspects of existing cultures) took the top spot as other social theories declined in popularity.
Calls to break free from this “herd mentality” have emerged in Indonesia decades ago.
In 1986, political scientist Muhammad Rusli Karim, writing in the country’s largest newspaper, Kompas, urged scholars to develop theories that better fit with Indonesia’s local context. Sociologist Ignas Kleden also introduced approaches to indigenise social science in Indonesia.
Unfortunately, those ideas fell on deaf ears amid a dominant social science regime focused on global development.
Now, there is a new momentum for Indonesia’s academic community to liberate themselves from an overreliance on foreign theories through the movement to “decolonise science”.
While many Indonesian scholars have not adopted it, the decolonisation of science is an essential step for the academic community in Indonesia to find their voice.
Moving away from colonial traits
The movement to decolonise science calls for the scientific community to break free from knowledge production dominated by colonial nations – particularly the Western world (eurocentrism) – to make more scientific room for scholars from all corners of the globe.
In the view of decolonisation, knowledge is currently centered on the Western world, while academics from formerly colonised states have traditionally been mere study objects.
As such, scholars from the Global South are made to perceive as if they have no authority to investigate themselves or to elevate any knowledge that perhaps has existed in their communities since centuries ago.
Read more: Why the role of native Indonesians in developing science is often overlooked during colonialism
Scientific views that carry colonial traits are also often racist – such as portraying “colored” people or those from the Global South as unintelligent or even abnormal.
Efforts to break free from this tradition, specifically in higher education and academia, have begun since the dawn of the decolonisation movement in the 1960s in East Africa.
The push to decolonise science in the modern age is part of a wider emancipation movement. For instance, it’s also driven by other campaigns outside academia that advocate for human rights and social justice – from #BlackLivesMatter to #MeToo.
The most important aspect of decolonising science, however, is moving away from scientific absolutism born from the dynamics of colonisation. This is the ultimate goal of scholars who push for decolonisation; most of them originating from Latin America, South Asia, and also Africa.
Decolonising science in Indonesia
Unfortunately, not many Indonesian social scientists have been involved in this important discourse.
This is somewhat ironic. Argentine literary scholar Walter Mignolo, for example, highlights how Indonesia once played a pivotal role in decolonising global politics through the Bandung Conference.
Indonesia has continually voiced support for the independence of colonised nations, but not many of our academics have done the same in the field of social science.
One big reason for this lack of advocacy is related to the eradication of all literature on Marxism or other leftist thoughts since the political turmoil in 1965. The iron grip of the authoritarian New Order in Indonesia made certain that ideas on postcolonialism, decolonialism, or Marxism did not take hold in Indonesia’s social sciences and humanities.
To this day, we can still observe traces of colonial bias in Indonesian science – not only in the social sciences but also natural sciences. It’s important for scholars in fields such as biology and medical science to reflect on their disciplines and revisit its scientific foundations, especially those with relevance to the Indonesian context.
Biologist Sabhrina Gita Aninta, for instance, explains the inherently biased Western perspective when studying the rich biodiversity of flora and fauna in equatorial countries. Other academics also question the naming process of certain animals such as the orangutan, arguing that it’s filled with imperialist politics that sets aside the historical traditions of the Dayak Iban tribe in Kalimantan.
Indonesia is home to a plethora of still unknown and unstudied local knowledge, in contrast to our peers in Latin America who have mostly succeeded in shedding their overreliance on Western theories while celebrating the local knowledge that they possess.
Ideas such as the “pluriverse”, a compilation of thoughts originating in Latin America that oppose global development driven by business interests and greenwashing, are great examples of alternative thoughts that have started to become popular and accepted by the global scientific community.
These kinds of attempts can serve as an inspiration for Indonesian academics to shift toward decolonising science.
Reaching for the same level
Throughout the years, Indonesian scholars have grown weary of dominant theories, pushing them to always ride the wave of scientific trends – often times Western.
But this tendency can also stem from a feeling of inferiority among Indonesian scholars. They often face difficulty in expressing ideas if they’re not supported by seemingly intricate and complex theories.
Unfortunately, this reinforces the dominance of Western ways of thought.
Sociologist Leon Moosavi reminds academics to not just jump on the decolonial bandwagon, but also to ride the important train headed for a more inclusive scientific regime.
The problem in Indonesia, is that that train is dead empty, even though it’s been ready to depart for so long.
Another note is that decolonising science isn’t just about policies. Too many times we have relied on mere policies to solve science problems in Indonesia. This won’t work for decolonising science – it’s mostly a matter of academic tradition.
Decolonising science starts with the will to look inside each academic discipline, and ask whether there is room to look for the truth without having to depend on Western science.
A leading scholar in decolonisation, Gurminder Bhambra, reminds us that decolonising science does not mean rejecting Western theories – that was never the goal.
It’s about the urgency of placing scientific theories and insights from the Global South in the same and equal degree of respect within the global production of knowledge.