Paper short abstract:

Arguing that specific reflection is required for epistemic justice, this paper discusses the consequences for ethnographic research. It discusses three occasions in which epistemic violence can occur and suggests ways of reflecting epistemic practices and metaphysical commitments at these occasions.

Paper long abstract:

The paper argues for a comprehensive awareness of a researcher's epistemic practices, specifically at three specific occasions in the research process: the collection of data, the interpretation of data and the presentation of results. Based on original ethnographic research data, the paper describes how each of these occasions had the potential for epistemic violence to occur. At each of these occasions the researcher also had to make decisions for or against representative or performative research approaches. The paper reflects on epistemic practices at these three occasions by referring to the figures of a distant judging observer (Verran 2001), a modest witness (Haraway 1997), and as a representing or intervening researcher (Hacking 1983). These figures will be used to discuss a representative and a performative approach in the presented research and their potential to perpetuate epistemic violence.