Mr Ademola Fayemi1
1Queensland Bioethics Centre, , Australia
Biography:
Ademola Kazeem FAYEMI is a doctoral student at the Queensland Bioethics Centre researching the question of epistemic injustice in the Research for Health Justice Framework.
Abstract:
Although epistemic injustice is a pervasive problem in global health research, little is documented about its risk within ethics frameworks linking global health research to equity and social justice. This article aims to develop an interrogative-reflexive tool for assessing the risk and presence of epistemic injustice in ethics frameworks in global health research. Using the Research for Health Justice framework (RHJ) as illustration, this article demonstrates how an interrogative-reflexive tool evaluates the risk and presence of epistemic injustice in the RHJ. Drawing insights from epistemic injustice literature in global health, uncritical pose (non-reflexivity about the situated background from which one speaks) and inappropriate gaze (misdirected intended audience of knowledge) are used as criteria to evaluate the extent to which RHJ embodies and may perpetuate epistemic injustice. This article contends that if an ethics framework in global health research is to be true to its own value, its moral legitimacy should not be undermined by epistemic injustice. In facilitating equity in global health research, this article suggests the need to further evaluate other ethics frameworks beyond the RHJ in light of potential epistemic injustice while taking conscious steps to address them.