Black feminism thought against epistemic injustice

a study of the approaches of Sueli Carneiro and Patricia Hill Collins

Abstract

The article discusses the contributions of black feminism thought to the critique of the epistemic injustice – here understood as one of the faces of social injustice, globally considered. This work analyzes, particularly, the approaches of the Brazilian philosopher Sueli Carneiro and the American sociologist Patricia Hill Collins. Each in its post-colonial context, the two authors (a) theorize about the mechanisms of oppression/subjection of black women and their struggles for emancipation; (b) formulate their critical theories considering the theoretical and epistemological matrices of hegemonic knowledge; (c) present some existing alternative horizons, which emerge from black feminism thought. The article draws positive conclusions as to the vigor and importance of social criticism formulated by both authors and argues in defense of the relevance of framing the debate under the terms of the claims for social justice.