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 Musuem and University of Manitoba 
  

  This workshop will bring together philosophers, Indigenous activists and artists to explore the intersection of epistemic reparations and epistemic blame. The workshop will be accompanied by a free public lecture by Senator Mary Jane McCallum and will be 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 is co-organized by the Department of Philosophy at Brandon University and the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.
  
  

• Conversations with the Apartheid Past

  May 6–10, 2024 at various locations in Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa
  

  This five-day series of events will organize conversations with Apartheid activists, descendants and artists through a workshop, working groups, interviews and poetry readings. This series is 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.
  
  

• Epistemic Reparations: Decolonizing Recognition in Canada 

  September 10–12, 2024 at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights  
  

  In partnership with Centre for Human Rights Research and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, this international event will bring together Indigenous leaders, elders and scholars as well as commissioners from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), including Murray Sinclair, to examine future directions of the role for recognition in a Canadian context. Curators of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will be invited to participate in the workshop, and it will incorporate themes that emerge in a temporary interactive exhibit at the Museum. This event is co-organized by the Department of Philosophy at Brandon University, where Epistemic Reparations group member Cameron Boult serves as Associate Professor of Philosophy, and the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.