Global Epistemic Injustice: An Ethical Confrontation With Jihadism

Abstract

The aim of this article is to press the borders of philosophy to the terrain of literary studies and praxis of teaching. Starting from Kamila Shamsie's novel Home Fire, I try to enlarge the frame of Miranda Fricker's discussion of epistemic injustice. Indeed, Fricker's concern with everyday epistemic micro-aggressions can serve as a model of investigating global epistemic injustices. Shamsie's narrative about terrorism offers clear instances of testimonial injustice that fuse in other forms of injustices and form a continuum of epistemic injustice. Bringing the issue of terrorism and jihadism to the classroom and addressing it through philosophical epistemic lenses provides a precious occasion for an ethical confrontation with it. It is also a way to trespass the boundaries between the classroom and the outside world. The discussion with students raises the question of empathy, as constitutive of ethics, and looks into its limits.