A Critical Review of Representative Sources on Multicultural Epistemology

Abstract

During the 1990s, several essays and books appeared that between them delineated the domain of “multicultural” epistemology, and these are summarized and critically assessed: James Scheurich and Michelle Young (Educ Res 26(4): 4–16, 1997); James Banks (Educ Res 22(5): 4–14, 1993, Educ Res 27(7): 4–17, 1998); Patricia Hill Collins (Black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge, New York, 1990); Dolores Delgado Bernal (Har Educ Rev 68(4): 555–582, 1998); Belenky et al. (Women’s ways of knowing: the development of self, voice, and mind. Basic Books, New York, 1986); and Molefi Kete Asante (Kemet, Afrocentricity and knowledge. Africa World Press, Trenton, 1990). It is argued that although these sources make claims about epistemology, they fail to make clear what the various alternative epistemologies they canvas actually postulate and what knowledge-warranting practices they advocate; they also fail to address in detail what aspects of traditional epistemology are defective (apart from the fact that it was produced by individuals drawn from the dominant social group). Nevertheless, these sources make valid sociological points (e.g., mainstream educational research tends to neglect the concerns and life-experiences of minority groups) and psychological ones (e.g., about the “ways of knowing” of minority cultural groups) – but sociology and psychology do not constitute epistemology. The final part of this chapter takes the form of a reaction to the issues raised, written by the other co-editor of the volume.