5.5 Conclusion

Recognizing the potential harms that sources can cause doesn’t mean we know how to practice knowledge justice, or that we will get it right every time we try. As we’ve discussed throughout this resource, much of the knowledge we access in Eurowestern society is shaped by corporate and colonial power structures that don’t serve the public good. Just as some argue there’s ‘no ethical consumption under capitalism,’ we might also say there’s no fully ethical way to seek and evaluate knowledge in an information landscape driven by profit, misinformation, and exclusion.

Across this resource, we’ve emphasized the complex, messy nature of knowledge justice work and tried to demonstrate how perfection isn’t the goal. We, your authors, still have gaps in our own understanding, some of which we’ve been working through even as we wrote this resource. Instead, this chapter focused on approaching knowledge with intention, awareness, and care. The evaluation strategies we’ve shared above are tools to help you make thoughtful, informed choices as you assemble and evaluate your own body of evidence, with space to revise your approach as you learn more. The biggest challenge will be in finding the time and freedom to do so.

In our final chapter, you’ll hear about ways practitioners across the helping professions are actively practicing knowledge justice. They’ll share the inspiring work they’re doing, but you’ll also hear about the challenges they’ve encountered along the way. We hope hearing their stories will help you, too, to consider the ways you might bring what you’ve learned through this resource into your daily practice in your future career.