Power, Politics, and Knowledge

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

In this course, we will examine the ways in which knowledge and knowledge-production are implicated in the political—where “political” is understood both broadly (to include relations of cultural power) as well as more conventionally (e.g., as referring to issues of democratic governance and institutions). We will examine such questions as the following: · In what respects is knowledge a social (as opposed to an individual) phenomenon? · In what ways are groups treated as knowledgeable—or ignored as producers of knowledge—in virtue of their identity? How do these epistemic relations result from—and in turn support—oppressive power relations in society? · What is “epistemic injustice”? What are the relations between epistemic injustice and various ideologies (such as patriarchy or white supremacy)? · Are various disciplines dominated by “Western” forms of knowing? Do certain disciplines need to be “decolonized”? · What are the epistemological consequences of social media algorithms? Are these algorithms destroying the epistemological basis of democracy? Of society itself? · What are the epistemological presuppositions of democracy? Are they realistic?