It is perhaps no coincidence that the lead authors of the papers in this Special Issue on ‘International policies – local affects: Regenerating the sociology of Basil Bernstein’ are mainly women scholars. What may be more surprising is that scholars working within feminist traditions with an enduring scepticism about humanistic assertions for epistemology still work with Bernstein’s oeuvre, just when it is being appropriated to buttress strong claims for epistemology, such as the calls ‘to bring knowledge back in’ to the curriculum.

As a provocative introduction to the papers in the Special Issue we look at the tensions between epistemology and ontology as a way to explore Bernstein’s abiding appeal to us, and explain why, as feminist scholars, we have not simply abandoned what might seem like a grand, modernist sociological theory. We start by pointing to some of the contemporary appropriations of Bernstein’s work, and specifically those that make strong epistemological claims. Next, we introduce the renewed interest in ontology within new materialisms. We introduce concepts from the papers to read Bernstein’s work (diffractively) with and through other sources, including new material feminist onto-epistemologies, to exemplify why Bernstein leaves such a rich legacy and has ongoing relevance. In so doing, we challenge the idea that Bernstein’s theory is only about epistemology and hierarchical theory-building.