Epistemological Justice in Practice-Inclusionary Strategies in CES

Abstract: This talk explores the value of providing equitable spaces and opportunities for different ways of knowing that aren't typically recognized by the traditionally-laden academy but that nonetheless have the potential to provide immense value to graduate students as they develop their community-engaged scholarship trajectories. This session shares how the graduate program in community-engaged scholarship at Tulane has attempted to address epistemic injustice via an equity-based structure that positions community-based knowledge as equally important to a graduate student's learning experience. This session puts the question forward as to what else can be done to address epistemic injustice, such that community-based knowledge receives equitable respect and attention within the academy, generally, but specifically in graduate education.

Narrative: The proposed lightning talk will begin with the question: in what practical ways can universities structure programs, pedagogies, actions, processes, and more in such a manner that they intentionally address epistemic injustice experienced by the very communities that serve as the subjects and subject matter of academic inquiry and scholarship? The lightning session does not purport to offer the answer to this big question, but will offer one small example from the practice put in place by the Tulane Mellon graduate program in community-engaged scholarship. The session will break down the structure (intentionally not explained here) that is used as part of the graduate student experience and provide background as to how the structure came to be installed as a mainstay of the program. In discussing how the structure is designed to work and how it works in practice, the session will highlight how such a small intentionality has the potential to grow into larger, more robust, university-wide changes and will invite participants to envision together the possible solutions that could be deployed at their own institutions, as well as what research potentialities exist for this type of practical application.

The scholarly foundation for this talk can be found in work conducted on the concept of epistemic injustice. Key thinkers include Miranda Fricker, who coined the term "epistemic injustice" in her 2007 book, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing; Kristie Dotson, who has written extensively on testimonial injustice, particularly as it affects marginalized groups (2011, 2012, 2014), Charles Mills, who has argued that epistemic injustice is a central feature of white supremacy (1988); and Linda Alcoff, who has explored the relationship between epistemic justice and social justice (1991). Together, these scholars have provide the language and schemas that have enabled many other scholars to begin to look at their own research, theories, and methodologies from an epistemic justice perspective. We apply this lens to the conversation around how we structure a community-engaged scholarship experience for graduate students that attends to the issues raised by the scholars about the power dynamics behind what type of knowing is acknowledged, propped up, and rewarded.

The session will first ask the research question presented above, briefly highlight how the question is in line with the growing body of work on epistemic injustice, then share how the small structural change made to the Tulane graduate program in community-engaged scholarship put the program in a more authentic alignment with a small form of epistemic justice practice. For the sake of this proposal, we want to highlight that the structural feature we will discuss was highlighted by a recent report titled Approaches to Training in the Public Humanities, written by Michelle May-Curry and Younger Oliver for the National Humanities Alliance, as a distinctive approach seldom found in higher education (see attached report).