The politics of (post-)truth: Anthropological knowledge-making and new normative challenges

Abstract

The introduction to this special section explores the contemporary politics of (post-)truth as both an object of anthropological inquiry and a challenge to anthropological knowledge-making itself. Rather than treating post-truth as a simple erosion of facts, we examine how contemporary conflicts increasingly concern the conditions under which truth claims are validated, contested, and rendered authoritative. Drawing on debates in anthropology, science and technology studies, and post-positivist scholarship, we revisit long-standing concerns with epistemic plurality, incommensurability, collaboration, and the social production of knowledge. We argue that the current conjuncture is marked less by the existence of competing truths than by intensified struggles over the infrastructures, procedures, and normative frameworks that make truth claims intelligible and actionable. Introducing the contributions to this special section, we propose the concepts of “good-enough truths” and “minimal commensurability” as analytical tools for navigating tensions between epistemic openness, normative accountability, and democratic contestation under increasingly polarized conditions.