Dismantling Racialized Epistemic Constructions of Non-Western Knowledge Systems: A Synergistic Approach

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Epistemological Understandings Across Linguistic Contexts (Table 26)

Abstract

How does racial injustice intersect with research? The term ‘research’ is “one of the dirtiest words in the indigenous world’s vocabulary” (Smith, 1999) since traditional research methodologies have constructed non-Western viewpoints as oddities to be studied and understood through a predominantly Western(ized) lens. The result is a scarcity of non-Western knowledge systems for data analysis. When epistemic conversations about language use and literacy practices over rely on Western(ized) knowledge systems, this impedes comprehensive understanding of these processes. Dismantling racial injustice begins with scrutiny of what counts as knowledge. This presentation relies on an interepistemic synergy approach (Author, 2019) in analyzing data produced in a grades 9/5 literacy collaboration in Nairobi, Kenya, to demonstrate benefits of diversifying metalanguage for data analysis.

Author

• David Bwire, The College of New Jersey