Epistemic Injustice and Violence Perpetrated Against Indigenous Populations: Is Reconciliation a Modern Manifestation of Epistemic Violence?

Abstract

This paper explores Indigenous knowledge suppression as a form of epistemic violence and injustice. Through examination of the residential schooling system, I demonstrate how forced assimilation practices, such as language suppression and erasure, severed important epistemic ties for Indigenous children. Drawing on Gayatri Spivak’s account of epistemic violence and Miranda Fricker’s literature on epistemic injustice, I argue that colonial boarding schools incited epistemic violence which gave rise to testimonial and hermeneutical injustices. Furthermore, I critically analyze modern forms of reconciliation, declaring that such efforts fail to adequately address ongoing harms faced by Indigenous peoples. Instead, they perpetuate systemic oppression and epistemic injustice, thereby diminishing Indigenous testimonies in the modern era. Finally, I engage with José Medina’s recognition philosophy to assert the need for a radical shift in the process of recognition as a step towards sufficiently managing epistemic harms.