Impact Trust • Working glossary

Epistemic justice

Fairness about who gets to say what something means, whose knowledge counts, and who gets believed.

Details

Our Take
'Whose knowledge counts?' is the accessible version. Important for participatory work. The finding that 'bouncing back' dismisses transformation is an epistemic justice claim -- it says the dominant framing silences the experience of those for whom returning to the status quo was the problem. Long advocacy for recognising grassroots knowledge and bricolage is epistemic justice in practice, even when it does not use the label.
Examples of Use
Philosophy, social science, Cynefin Centre
Synonyms/Variants
Knowledge justice; Cognitive justice; Whose knowledge counts?
Typical everyday wording
Whose knowledge counts, and who gets believed?