APSE TALK: Mirjam Faissner (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin)| Epistemic Oppression and Trans Healthcare
Applied Philosophy of Science and Epistomology Talk Series
A series of talks organized by APSE (Department of Philosophy). More information here: apse.univie.ac.at/news-events/apse-talks/
Date: 21.03.2024
Time: 15h00
Venue: New Institute Building (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, HS 3A
Abstract: To understand and communicate our social experiences, we rely on epistemic resources, such as words, concepts, metaphors, or social meanings. Yet, which epistemic resources are socially available depends on power structures. The concept of epistemic oppression, as developed by Kristie Dotson, is helpful in understanding how power structures enable and constrain epistemic agency, i. e. our ability to use, develop and adapt our shared epistemic resources.
In this talk, I argue that institutional epistemologies in healthcare sustain the epistemic oppression of trans people. More specifically, I suggest that dominant narratives on transition and detransition available in healthcare result in hermeneutical injustice and smothering, two types of epistemic injustice that uphold epistemic oppression. I discuss consequences of the epistemic oppression of trans people for trans healthcare.
Bio:
Mirjam Faissner is a medical ethicist working at the Institute of the History of Medicine and Ethics in Medicine at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Trained as a medical doctor and a philosopher, she works on questions of structural and epistemic injustice in healthcare, combining philosophical and empirical research.