Grand narratives are different from epistemes. Grand narratives have assumed notions of absolute truth because of the power dynamic implied in those notions. See that second link. It's what postmodernism is all about. The tl;dr is epistemes = what knowledge is at a given time & grand narratives = who gets funded.
Jared Diamond tried to reclaim environmental determinism from its unsavoury origins, but he didn't realise that you couldn't repair something when the foundations were rotten.
Related: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674088160
Jared Diamond tried to reclaim environmental determinism from its unsavoury origins, but he didn't realise that you couldn't repair something when the foundations were rotten.