The Epistemic Reparations Global Working Group aims to create a more holistic, survivor- and victim-centered framework for understanding reparations that includes the recognition of the “right to be known” for those who have experienced gross human rights violations.

There is growing recognition around the world that existing tools to address gross violations of human rights have not achieved meaningful justice for survivors and victims who seek epistemic reparations, which include the critical right to tell one’s story and be heard. This group aims to create a framework for understanding reparations through interdisciplinary research and policy change that recognize the “right to be known.” This critical but previously underappreciated right can be fulfilled through the facilitation of opportunities for survivors and victims to testify and document their own stories to a wider public.​ Learn more in our Buffett Brief on Epistemic Reparation, or explore more Global Working Groups' research in our collection of Buffett Briefs >>

READ THE BUFFETT BRIEF ON EPISTEMIC REPARATIONS

Engagement Activities

• Epistemic Blame and Epistemic Reparations

  September 15–16, 2023 at the Qaumajuq Museum and University of Manitoba 
  

  This workshop convened philosophers, Indigenous activists and artists to explore the intersection of epistemic reparations and epistemic blame. The workshop was accompanied by a free public lecture by Senator Mary Jane McCallum followed by a free Community Led Tour of Qaumajuq, the world's largest public collection of Inuit art. Epistemic Reparations group member Julia Lafreniere is Head of Indigenous Ways and Equity at Qaumajuq. This event was co-organized by the Department of Philosophy at Brandon University and the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.
  
  

• Epistemic Reparations and Carceral Injustice

  May 16–18, 2024 at Northwestern University (Evanston and Chicago campuses) and Stateville Correctional Center
  

  This three-day workshop examined our obligations to make epistemic reparations for the distinctively epistemic wrongs involved in carceral injustices, such as the vilification or demonization of people who are wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. In addition to other forms of reparations, including monetary ones, victims of such wrongs may also be owed epistemic ones, including the creation and sharing of knowledge about who they in fact are that counters the narrative developed and promoted by the State. The workshop foregrounded the voices of those who are or have been incarcerated, or who have survived the incarceration of loved ones.
  
  

• Epistemic Reparations and the Right to Be Known in Post-Apartheid South Africa

  June 20–22, 2024 at various locations in Johannesburg, South Africa
  

  This three-day series of events organized conversations with Apartheid activists, descendants and artists through a workshop, working groups, interviews and poetry readings. This series was organized by the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (ACEPS) at the University of Johannesburg. Epistemic Reparations group member Veli Mitova is the director of ACEPS.