Epistemic Justice and the Right to Knowledge

Sor Juana's defense of her intellectual pursuits directly confronted the epistemic injustice of her time: women were systematically denied education, library access, and intellectual credibility. Epistemic justice recognizes that denying someone's capacity for knowledge or right to pursue it is a form of violence. This concept connects identity to knowledge systems, asking: Whose ways of knowing are validated? Who gets educated? Whose expertise is recognized? Across cultures, epistemic injustice has been deployed systematically—colonized peoples having their knowledge systems denigrated, indigenous practices dismissed as superstition, women's intellectual contributions erased. The right to knowledge encompasses both access to dominant knowledge systems and the validation of non-dominant ways of knowing. This framework supports identity work by connecting personal intellectual development to larger justice frameworks. Individuals can understand their pursuit of education not merely as personal advancement but as claiming a fundamental right. It also validates diverse knowledge systems—emotional intelligence, spiritual wisdom, practical expertise—as legitimate forms of knowing that contribute to human flourishing across cultural contexts.