11 Expanding the Agnotological Toolbox: Methods of Sex and Gender Analysis

Agnotology is not merely an intriguing theoretical approach to the history and philosophy of science—something we flash about as a multifaceted gem at academic convocations; ignorance produced through systemic bias can also be expensive in terms of lives and costs. Agnotology traces the cultural politics of ignorance. It takes the measure of our ignorance, and analyzes how our knowledge has been influenced by struggles determining who is included and who is excluded, which projects are pursued and which are ignored, whose experiences are validated and whose are not, and who stands to gain in terms of wealth or well-being, and who does not. Sex and gender analysis form a particularly urgent terrain for agnotology, and are the topic of this chapter.