African Epistemology and Epistemic Injustice Against Women: Complementary Epistemology to the Rescue

Abstract

This paper contends that there exists epistemic injustice against women in African epistemology. Thus, the pertinent question is, does African epistemology marginalizes women? In investigating this question, we shall trace the foundation of this epistemic injustice to the chauvinistic codification of African epistemology and the two-value logical system which creates and sustains the unequal binary opposition. The paper shall argue that when women are deliberately or unconsciously placed on the epistemic margin by the prevailing African epistemic paradigm, they are denied access to epistemic space, thereby reducing their personhood. To address this problem, we contend that one of the veritable ways of making African epistemology a site of counter-hegemony is to advocate for epistemic balance, and this could be achieved through complementary epistemology which is predicated on a trivalent logical system. Here, all mature discussants would be given equal access to the power of knowledge and the opportunity to blaze their own epistemic trail. The paper shall rely basically on the complementary method as a viable method of philosophical investigation.