Recovering Rejected Knowledge: Explaining the Epistemological Strategies of Contemporary Astrologers

占星术——利用恒星的位置来理解地球环境——是天文学、数学和占卜解释的混合体。这种独特的结合非常适合用来质疑启蒙运动后工具理性进入西方知识分子自我形象的做法。考虑到这一点，我正在研究当代西方占星家是如何在一个他们的知识实践被认为是无效和不合法的社会中集体构建和合法化他们的知识的，特别是被知识精英和部分媒体认为是无效和不合法的。为此，我与苏格兰中部地区的占星家进行了参与性观察，以了解他们是如何构建和合法化他们的做法的。我的研究将绘制和分析一种长期存在的“非教会”或“本土”实践是如何在日常生活中使用的。这将使我们能够更好地理解多元化和世俗化社会中的认知差异，“主流”元素与反霸权的解释和实践同时存在。

Astrology - the apprehension of earthly circumstances using the position of stellar bodies - is a blend of astronomy, mathematics, and divinatory interpretation. This unique combination is well-suited to be used to interrogate the post-Enlightenment adoption of instrumental rationality into the Western intellectual self-image. With this in mind, I am studying how contemporary Western astrologers collectively construct and legitimate their knowledge in a society where their knowledge practices are considered invalid and illegitimate, particularly by intellectual elites, and also in sections of the media. To do this, I am conducting participant observation with astrologers in the central belt of Scotland to understand how they construct and legitimate their practices. My study will map and analyse how one longstanding 'unchurched' or 'vernacular' practice is used in everyday life. This will allow a greater understanding of epistemic difference within a society that is both pluralised and secularised, with 'mainstream' elements existing simultaneously with counter-hegemonic interpretations and practices.