IPR forum on Chih-yu Shih’s intervention on the relational turn in IR: Why we also need relational epistemology

I read Shih’s intervention as an invitation to pay attention to relationality in not only ontological but also epistemological terms. I begin by observing that even those bodies of scholarship that focus on relationality are not always aware of our connectedness in terms of the production of ideas and knowledge about how the world works. It is essential, I argue, that studying the ways in which we are connected does not remain focused purely on material usurpation (historical materialism) or self-other relations (feminism, post-structuralism) but also encompasses the production of ideas and knowledge. Brought into an IR discussion, this is about the production of our ideas and knowledge about how the world works, which is best captured by Edward Said’ distinction between ‘origin’ versus ‘beginning’ of ideas. Whereas looking for the ‘origin’ of ideas assumes a singular source, an exploration of ‘beginnings’ takes as its starting point the eventuality that there exist multiple sources across time and space, and focuses on the study of relations of give-and-take and learning between world’s peoples.