About

In 2024, we started an online reading group on epistemic diversity. We covered a diverse range of authors, topics, and approaches, with a relatively strong presence of feminist philosophy of science and social epistemology. We have explored topics such as strong objectivity and well-ordered science, epistemic oppression, disadvantage, epistemic justice and injustice in science, extractivism, multiculturalism, digital colonialism, formal models of diversity, open science, science funding, values in science, and diversity work in academia.

Epistemic diversity carves deep channels into foundational terrain of knowledge, scientific progress, equity, and justice. It is also deeply personal territory for us as researchers, whose own perspectives and standpoints are embedded in the landscapes we study. The field itself is also contested, and direct threats to diversity in academia are only becoming more apparent.

As we wandered through the wilderness, we found ourselves lost in a multitudinous landscape of concepts, theories and hypotheses. What we needed was a cartographer, someone to chart the variety of frameworks, draw connections between scattered regions of thought, and help us navigate the broader terrain.

This is where concept cartography helped. Several of us took on the role of cartographers, beginning by writing a dictionary of terms that gradually evolved into a conceptual map. We traced the contours of our reading list, extracting definitions, characterisations, examples, and conceptual routes between ideas. We also added additional landmarks from political epistemology.

The result is a representation of conceptual space: a topography of concepts, theories, and hypotheses and their interlinkages. The terrain is intricate, and like any map, ours offers only a partial perspective. Yet we hope it serves as a navigational aid for those exploring the intellectual landscapes surrounding epistemic diversity.

We invite you to engage with the chart for your thinking and teaching. Take it in hand as is, or shape it and add to it to suit your needs and experiences. You may even want to create your own map.