How can educators use their power in pedagogically just and effective ways? How does this relate to the aims and history of pedagogy and educational institutions? Epistemic injustice refers to someone being wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower, often in ways that correspond to broader power structures within their social context (Miranda Fricker, 2007). I argue that our inherited pedagogical norms, epitomized in Freire's discussion of the "banking method" (1970), constitute epistemic injustice in the form of epistemic dispossession. This works by selectively withholding the material, cognitive, existential, cultural, historical, and social resources required for effective learning. In a system that hopes to use institutions of learning to manufacture docility under oppression, I believe that Open Educational Practices offer a well of resources for epistemically reparative teaching. My conclusion will discuss some of the strategies I have used to "open" my teaching.
Attendees of this session will be able to:- Define and explain epistemic injustice and epistemic justice
- Explain the connection between epistemic justice, pedagogy, and Open Educational Practices
- Relate epistemically just pedagogy and Open Educational Practices to figures in the critical/liberation pedagogy movement, such as Paolo Freire and bell hooks
- Conceptualize more "open" course design and classroom facilitation techniques
- Design and implement a renewable assignment
