Epistemic Reparations and the Right to be Known

Special Issue Description

We live in a world riddled with epistemic wrongs, from the incidental put down of a marginal voice to the systematic extinction of entire knowledge systems and the continued epistemic disempowerment of whole populations through colonialism and racism. In recent years, attention has turned to the distinctively epistemic reparations that are needed to repair such wrongs. Epistemic reparations are ‘intentionally reparative actions in the form of epistemic goods given to those epistemically wronged by parties who acknowledge these wrongs and whose reparative actions are intended to redress them’ (Lackey 2022). The paradigm of such reparations is when victims of gross human rights violations exercise their ‘right to be known’¬—the right to tell their story in the way and the space they choose, with the corresponding duty perpetrators have to bear witness. This special issue brings together papers theorising epistemic reparations and cognate concepts, and puts them into dialogue with other key topics in social and normative epistemology.

Possible topics of interest include but are not limited to:

Epistemic reparations

▪ How do epistemic reparations relate to moral and material reparations?

▪ Is the framework of rights the best for understanding epistemic reparations?

The epistemology of groups

▪ Can groups, qua groups, have the right to be known and/ or be owed reparations?

▪ Are there interesting cases where the right to be known of groups conflicts with that of individuals or vice versa?

Epistemic responsibility and blame

▪ How does the right to be known fit into existing conversations about epistemic responsibility and blame?

Epistemic justice

▪ Are there concepts from the epistemic injustice literature that are helpful for thinking through issues of epistemic reparations?

Epistemic decolonisation

▪ Can the epistemic reparations framework help in our efforts to decolonise knowledge?

▪ What would epistemic reparations for colonisation look like?

Epistemic reparations applied to particular areas

▪ Carceral injustice

▪ Apartheid

▪ Indigenous voices

▪ Genocide

▪ Sexual violence

▪ Systemic and Structural Racism

▪ Historical Injustices

▪ Slavery and colonialism

DEADLINE: Please submit your paper by March 1st, 2025. Should you not be able to meet this deadline, please contact the Guest Editor (contact details below).

Online SUBMISSION: Please use the journal’s Online Manuscript Submission System (Editorial Manager), accessible through Editorial Manager®. Do note that paper submissions via email are not accepted.

Author Submission’s GUIDELINES: Authors are asked to prepare their manuscripts according to the journal’s standard Submission Guidelines.

EDITORIAL PROCESS:

-When uploading your paper in Editorial Manager, please select “SI: Epistemic Reparations and the Right to be Known" either in the drop-down menu “Article Type” or through SI selection in the Author’s Questionnaire

-Papers should not exceed a maximum of 10.000 words.

-All papers will undergo the journal’s standard review procedure (double-blind peer-review), according to the journal’s Peer Review Policy, Process and Guidance

-Reviewers will be selected according to the Peer Reviewer Selection

-This journal offers the option to publish Open Access. You are allowed to publish open access through Open Choice. Please explore the OA options available through your institution by referring to our list of OA Transformative Agreements.

-Once papers are accepted, they will be made available as Online articles publications until final publication into an issue and available on the Collections page.

CONTACT: For any questions, please directly contact the Guest Editor: Veli Mitova