2.3 Epistemic Injustice in Academia

Now that you’ve been introduced to epistemic injustice, let’s take a closer look at how it shows up in our education system, including within academic research. Please note that this section covers topics that some viewers may find distressing, including colonial violence and the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples in residential schools.

Every academic discipline has its own way of deciding what counts as valid knowledge. These choices—about who is considered an ‘expert’, which research methods are used, and what counts as “good” evidence—aren’t neutral. They’ve been shaped by academics’ positionalities. In other words, where and when academic researchers have lived, the politics of their time, their social identities, and the biases of previous research done within their field, have helped shape our disciplines into what they are today. We’ll talk more about this idea in Chapter 3.

As we’ll discuss more below, our education is often missing voices and perspectives from equity-denied groups. For those of us who grew up in Canada, for example, our schooling has always been shaped by a westernized worldview, making it easy to overlook the influence of European values on our learning.

Watch the video below for some examples.

Epistemic Injustice at Western University

We do not need to look far to find examples of epistemic injustice within academic research. For instance, at our (the authors’) own institution, Western University, former researcher Dr. J. Philippe Rushton published studies in the 1980s and 1990s claiming there were genetic differences in intelligence between racial groups. Although many scholars and community members at Western criticized his research for being racist and scientifically flawed, his work was still published and funded and continues to be misused by white supremacist and eugenics organizations.

As Western’s Psychology department says:

Epistemicide of Indigenous Knowledges

As members of the Canadian academic community, we have the shared responsibility to acknowledge how universities and researchers have contributed to the theft and destruction of Indigenous knowledges (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2022 ).

There is considerable evidence of white-settler researchers being welcomed into Indigenous communities and then taking credit for their ‘personal’ discovery of Indigenous ways of being. The short video below describes one such example, ‘Maslow’s’ Hierarchy of Needs.

@drhanren

Link to article in comments. #decolonize #maslowshierarchy #learnontiktok #psychology

♬ original sound – Han Ren, Ph.D.

As Biin et al. (2021) articulate, colonialism has “allowed Indigenous Peoples to be viewed as “other” in Canada, with knowledge and physical resources that can be extracted and used for settler benefit. This has resulted in unethical research practices on Indigenous peoples’ bodies, their cultures, and their knowledge” (Biin, Canada, Chenoweth and Neel, 2021 ).

Thanks to the diligent efforts of Indigenous advocates and scholars, we can recognize how much is missing from our university education as academic disciplines have long excluded Indigenous knowledges and worldviews.

Epistemic Injustice in the Helping Professions

The helping professions are built on care and support, but even our fields of study perpetuate harmful bias. The videos below offer examples of epistemic injustice within the helping professions to help us think more critically about how our disciplines – and even the well-meaning people within them – can perpetuate injustice and benefit from systems of oppression.

Watch this video for examples of epistemic injustice within nursing

Watch this video for examples of epistemic injustice within Counselling/Psychotherapy

Watch this video for examples of epistemic injustice within librarianship

Reflecting on Hard Truths 

This chapter introduced the concept of epistemic injustice and how it can impact whose worldviews we see in our social media feeds or education. We’ve started to recognize whose voices we do not hear, whether because of biased system design, differences in privilege and opportunity, or because certain peoples have been purposefully excluded or silenced.

Author Reflection