Exploring the knowledge practices of psychology: Reflections on a field study

The epistemic project of psychology is currently under intense and broad debate. As a contribution to this debate—and as a deliberate attempt to steer the debate towards a more situated and material understanding of epistemology—this article presents a 2-month anthropological field study of how knowledge was produced among a group of psychologists in a psychology department at a Danish university. First, the article presents a detailed account of how this particular group of (cultural-historical) psychologists constructed knowledge in their daily practices. Second, the article discusses these specific knowledge practices in relation to a selection of contemporary pragmatic ideas about research, knowledge, and theorising. Finally, the article discusses how the study of this particular case of knowledge production may contribute to the broad current debates about psychology’s contemporary epistemic project and its role in society.