Race And Epistemology Of Ignorance

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The perimeters of our knowledge and ignorance are often conditional on such factors as our individual positionality, relationally and cognitive faculties. However, the question at hand is to what extent theses factors have an impact on the construction of our identity that I begin the grounds of my research. Mills’s exploration of the epistemology of ignorance donates a previously unexplored perspective on the construction of racial identity as an internal epistemology sustained by white ignorance. Keith Conland’s discussion of Victor, a ‘wild child’ from the 16th century, emphasises upon that which is “flexible” within our identity, and also what is formed by the borders of our experience, as opposed to an inverted construction of identity.

Sullivan, Shannon, and Nancy Tuana. Race And Epistemologies Of Ignorance. 1st ed., Albany, State University Of New York Press, 2007,.
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Mills states the importance of comprehending overall ignorance and acts of white ignorance within all aspects of society. He sees this ignorance as an internal construct within the study of epistemology and how we construct the sense of ‘self’ and ‘other’. It is in this argument that we may explore the social boundaries of knowledge and white ignorance, and how these function in the construction of an internal epistemic injustice placed upon the ‘other’, and furthermore the construction of their own sense of identity. However, Mills fails to expand sufficiently on how white ignorance may be constructed due to the knower’s lack of knowledge towards their own racial positionally, when in a position of white