This paper explores the field of interconnectedness among knowledge production, semiperiphery, gender, and "scientific excellence," which is largely an undertheorized and underresearched field of "absence of knowledge." It will be tackled with a combination of theoretical ideas, research findings, personal observations, and concrete examples, including valuable insights gained from the work process that the author developed through her participation in the Enlarge [the Number of] Women in Science in the East (ENWISE) Expert Group set up in October 2002 by the European Commission to report on the situation facing women scientists in Central and East European countries and in the Baltic states. The focus of this paper is on social sciences and especially gender studies at the semiperiphery because social sciences are extremely context-sensitive sciences, and gender studies development, specifically at the semiperiphery encompasses many of the problems that reveal the tensions between gender, creation of new knowledge, and "excellence." (Contains 5 notes.)