Epistemic Injustice: A New Form of Modern Slavery

Resumen

The paper aims to show that though the modern conception of slavery includes loss of freedom of self-expression and violation of the human right to a dignified existence, it ignores a subtler form of slavery which is ‘epistemic injustice’. Epistemic injustice is the result of a dominant euro-centric conceptual scheme, framed in terms of modernist conceptions of ‘rationality’ and ‘humanity’ and what is termed as ‘scientific knowledge. Such a framework adopts a narrow view of who is a ‘rational knower’ and ‘what is a source of rational scientific knowledge. Critiquing this framework, the paper states that epistemic injustice not only affects individuals but entire communities, more specifically indigenous communities, and their knowledge systems. Epistemic injustice is considered to involve three aspects: the involuntary aspect, the exploitation aspect, and the effective control aspect due to asymmetrical power relations besides the loss of self-identity, recognition, credit deficit, testimonial injustice, hermeneutic injustice, and loss of collective capability for human development. Considering Indigenous Knowledge systems and a relevant case study Ima Keithal (Mothers Market), the paper attempts to show that individual and collective epistemic injustice, in all its forms, affects sustainable business practices that lead to environmental harm and gender injustice.