Epistemic Violence

Coined by Gayatri Spivak at the end of the Cold War, the concept ofis today a powerful tool of analysis and critique. It draws our attention to the cognitive and epistemic infrastructure of what we believe we know about the world, including about (non-)violence, conflict, war – and peace. Taking phenomena of epistemic violence into account and theorising them meaningfully has the potential, then, to change the entire research agenda of Peace and Conflict Studies. It invites us to re- and unthink violence from a groundbreaking perspective which deconstructs the Euro- and androcentrist nature of our knowledge (and our ignorance), as grounded in the sustained colonial condition of the world – and vice versa.