Denisse Albornoz, Angela Okune, and Leslie Chan

“ What might epistemic injustice look like in an open system, and can openness promote epistemic justice?
We ground our argument in the experiences of the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet) , a research network composed of scientists, development practitioners and community activists from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, with the goal of investigating how and whether an open approach to science and knowledge making could contribute to sustainable development. ”

“ It was also widely assumed that once open access to global research was enabled, the gap between rich and poor institutions would narrow and a more inclusive and equitable system of knowledge production and sharing would emerge. [3] However, there is growing evidence that open research practices or “openness”—when decontextualized from their historical, political, and socioeconomic roots—rather than narrowing gaps, can amplify the overrepresentation of knowledge produced by Northern actors and institutions and further the exclusion of knowledge produced by marginalized groups. ”

“ In this context, the research team found that, for rural farmers, “opening up their knowledge” was part of a larger aspiration for the recognition and appreciation of their ancestral and indigenous knowledge (s) . The project therefore began to take openness not as a set of practices or technologies to follow, but rather, as a “state of mind or attitude” to be adopted primarily by individuals, and as a “methodology” to collaborate and work between diverse communities. ”

“ Through responsible agency, following Medina’s logic, we can develop the habit of recognizing the social locations of those who are involved in the project, the histories and trajectories from which their voices emerge, the presuppositions and commitments attached to their knowledge—and more importantly, how their histories may intersect with the trajectory of our own voices. ”

“ Decolonial scholars have long called for epistemic diversity in science and development, arguing for alternatives to “northern Epistemologies” and systems that allow for intercultural dialogues and an “ecology of knowledge (s) ” that nurtures curiosity, appreciation, and respect for diverse ways of knowing the world. [41]
In this sense, the infrastructures we build and the practices we enable need to intentionally include voices, worldviews, and epistemologies that have been historically excluded from the system. ”

“ In this system, the knowledge of those who exist at the intersections of multiple layers of privilege—for example, an Anglo-American man from a prestigious American university—is often afforded higher epistemic value and thus considered to be more legitimate, valid, truthful, and universal. ”

“ This has left scholars and activists wondering about the extent to which “openness,” while necessary, is sufficient for tackling inequalities in global academic knowledge production. Among the many arguments supporting this thesis in this chapter, we focus on those that allude to how open research practices may replicate epistemic injustices—a concept that refers to the devaluing of someone’s knowledge or capacity as a knower—particularly with regard to knowers and knowledge stemming from the Global South. ”

“ Based on the cases and concepts elaborated in this chapter, we offer four recommendations to engage in more reflexive, critical, and just modes of working in open research.
The first recommendation is for those who hold power in the Global North to recognize and assume their positions within systems of privilege and oppression in order to exercise what philosopher José Medina calls, “responsible agency.” [42] This exercise of introspection prods us to reflect on how we are implicated in producing epistemic harms in the open projects we promote, facilitate, and design. ”

“ Instead of seeking to develop agreement and consensus around universal standards and technologies of “openness,” time and space is necessary for policy makers, scholar activists, and concerned community members to develop collaborative imaginaries for more just and equitable knowledge infrastructures. Dismantling the old is just half the battle ”

“ While there is no one-size-fitsall approach toward achieving epistemic justice, we believe open research practices do hold promises for reducing historical and contemporary harms inflicted through the academic production system. ”

“ In the particular case of scholarly communications, the combination of these hidden practices builds an epistemological hierarchy that puts knowledge conforming to the norms and standards at the top, while deeming irrelevant or erasing the knowledges that do not. ”

“ An OCSDNet research team conducting research in Latin America faced a similar challenge. This project used a participatory methodology to facilitate knowledge exchange between academic researchers and rural farmers from Colombia and Costa Rica, with the objective of improving decisionmaking and governance mechanisms regarding biodiversity and climate change impact. The objective was to create conditions under which both academics and farmers could share their expertise with one another on equitable terms to design effective climate change adaptation strategies. ”

“ Kelley argued that the most radical ideas grow out of concrete intellectual engagement with the roots of inequality and the problems of aggrieved populations confronting systems of oppression. For example, the Combahee River Collective Statement, a Black feminist declaration, not only reflects on their struggles, victories, and losses, crises and openings, but also dares to imagine what survival and liberation may look like. ”

“ Central to the network’s project was the concept of situated openness, [7] which posits that “openness” needs to be contextualized in its particular history and environment to determine who benefits or who is at risk in an “open” system. ”

“ From their work, they found that young Haitian and West African scholars are keen to play a key role in establishing a culture of science and learning that is inclusive of a diversity of worldviews and intent on solving complex, local development issues. ”

“ Drawing from three OCSDNet case studies from South Africa, Colombia, Costa Rica, and countries in Francophone Africa, we reflect on how openness as a goal may not be the means to redress epistemic injustice in scholarly communication. ”

“ Can Open Scholarly Practices Redress Epistemic Injustice? Concerned with the emerging effects of open scholarly systems and practices, OCSDNet undertook two years of research in collaboration with academics and grassroots communities from the Global South to address issues of power and inequality in open science. When analysing OCSDNet project team reflections, we discovered that different communities are willing to share their knowledge depending on how it will impact their well-being. ”

“ The challenges ahead include encouraging and enabling such diversity while simultaneously finding channels for scholarly communities and infrastructures to speak to each other and not to exist in siloed isolation. ”

“ Colombian researcher Hector Botero, who conducted similar projects in the area, has asserted that this “meeting of two worlds” can challenge the preexisting epistemological hierarchy of both groups, as long as actors who hold traditional knowledge get to define the priorities and conditions under which scientific knowledge is used to advance the project, and not the other way around. [34] The Latin America project lead Josique Lorenzo concluded that “research [needs to] begin and end with community problems, rather than with scientific problems.” ”

“ This project is situated in a context of ongoing tension surrounding whose knowledge counts in defining biodiversity management and governance in Latin America. Postcolonial scholar Arturo Escobar’s work highlights how “biodiversity” in itself is a complex historically produced discourse with several definitions among a diverse network of stakeholders. Despite new attention being paid to traditional knowledge, “the conventional scientific disciplines continue to dominate the overall approach” at the policy level. ”

“ The second recommendation is to challenge technical standards, norms, and infrastructures that perpetuate epistemic injustice. To begin to disrupt such a system requires activists and scholars to move beyond challenging the visible barriers of the knowledge production system, notably paywalls and licensing, to question who has the ability to set agendas, standards, and norms ”

“ Drawing on Kelley’s work, we call for those working in public scholarship and open movements to engage in the hard work of reflecting on our values and reorganizing social life through political engagement, community involvement, education, debate, and dreaming. ”

“ By design, PECE encourages the creation and assembling of multiple interpretations, hypotheses, and theories in the firm belief that such explorations are necessary for the complex conditions that we seek to understand. ”

“ In response to this critique, the research team facilitated a process in which research partners questioned exploitative research relations in the project, claimed their right to refuse to share knowledge, and created frameworks to center indigenous sovereignty and indigenous ways of thinking. ”