Objectives: With reference to the concept of the Anthropocene, this paper inquires into the methodological foundations of investigating a decentered understanding of the subject. The attempt to overcome the binary logic of culture/society and nature inevitably leads to a paradox. On the one hand, human beings are part of nature, and on the other, science is a prototypical expression of the mastery of nature and - as is very evident in educational science - of the centering of the subject. In other words: Although the findings of the Enlightenment can be relativised, e.g. post-colonially, they are also achieved with Eurocentric methods (Spivak; Chakrabarty 2022). Theoretical framework: Two theoretical concepts can be used to address the paradox of a critique of the Enlightenment and the simultaneous use of 'enlightened' and enlightening methods to discuss educational processes. The first concept is relational spatial theory (Löw 2001; Hummrich & Engel 2023), which, by focusing on the interrelationship of positioning and contexts, makes it possible to approach knowledge structures about educational processes that lie beyond universalistic understandings. The second concept refers to the importance of relational heuristics, in which structures and positions are considered as a multi-level system (Hummrich 2024). In both, the spatio-temporal positioning of research objects becomes clear. Methodology: On the basis of selected reconstructive methods, the paper develops an understanding of epistemic violence and the capacity for reflection that is prototypically inscribed in qualitative research. This is because qualitative research has a long tradition of reflecting on the positioning of science, which can also provide meaningful impulses for research on educational processes in the Anthropocene. Data sources: The data sources come from two research projects in which structures of the production of postcolonial order were reconstructed (e.g. interviews, group discussions, observations). They provide exemplary insights into the production of positioning in educational processes and into the traces of epistemic violence. Results: The results of this discussion should contribute to a qualitative understanding of relational spatial orders in the production of science and scientificity. In doing so, the role of postcolonial critique is juxtaposed with a critical understanding of the dialectic of enlightenment, which on the one hand enables insights into the here and now of the production of subjectivity and sociality, and on the other hand discusses the necessity of systematic reflection on insights and their context of origin.

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