Knowing War

Suchman, L. (2023) Knowing War. Political Anthropological Research on International Social Sciences.

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Abstract

This commentary reflects on contributions to the pariss special issue Datawar. My readings highlight the implications of war’s remediations for practices through which it is rendered knowable. Critical engagement with martial epistemologies requires an articulation of the irremediable locatedness and partiality of knowledge practices, and the fallacy of data-solutionism as the latest promise of an end to ‘the fog of war.’ I conclude with some reflections on the possibilities that these writings suggest for counter-knowledges that might further destabilize military logics, to open spaces for modes of relation not based on the violence of claims to omniscience.