Iranian Journal Of Antheropology

Iranian Journal Of Antheropology

Indigenous Knowledge and Epistemic Justice: Reflections on the Political Economy of Knowledge and the Politics of Recognition

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
In recent decades, indigenous knowledge has become a major focus of debates on epistemic justice, sustainable development, and environmental policymaking. A growing body of scholarship has examined its connections to colonialism, power relations, and the marginalization of knowledge systems, emphasizing the need for recognition policies. Nevertheless, recognition policies themselves, along with their epistemic and institutional consequences, require further critical examination. Accordingly, this article adopts an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of anthropology, science and technology studies (STS), and the political economy of knowledge to genealogically examine the marginalization of indigenous knowledge and rethink the politics of recognition. Drawing on a Foucauldian reading of power/knowledge, the concept of governmentality, theories of epistemic justice, and critical scholarship on indigenous knowledge, the article argues that indigenous knowledge is neither static nor homogeneous; rather, it is produced, validated, and redefined through multiple, contested relations of power. States, scientific institutions, international organizations, transnational corporations, and local actors all participate in processes of defining, translating, standardizing, protecting, and exploiting knowledge. An examination of empirical cases from biomedicine, agriculture, environmental conservation, and the documentation of traditional knowledge shows that recognition, when reduced to incorporating indigenous knowledge into existing frameworks, may lead to reductive translation, standardization, and the reproduction of unequal epistemic relations. At the same time, institutional processes and state policies can create opportunities for documentation, legal protection, participation, and benefit-sharing. Moving beyond the simple binary of recognition/non-recognition, the article proposes an analytical framework for rethinking epistemic justice and recognition policies by considering their discursive, institutional, and agential dimensions in relation to one another. While affirming the right to recognition and participation in epistemic processes, this framework also avoids homogenizing indigenous communities or granting indigenous knowledge claims presumptive superiority.
Keywords
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