Epistemic Justice and Marginalized Knowledge

Sor Juana's work challenged who had authority to know, interpret, and teach—her intellectual contributions were systematized dismissal despite their rigor. LGBTQ+ communities face epistemic injustice: their lived experience dismissed as invalid, their scholarship questioned, their analysis of their own oppression treated as bias. This concept, grounded in justice philosophy, insists that LGBTQ+ people are primary experts on their own lives and communities. It demands recognition of LGBTQ+ scholarship, activism, and cultural production as legitimate knowledge systems deserving institutional platforms and resources. Applying Sor Juana's commitment to intellectual rigor and integrity, this framework validates both academic and experiential knowledge while critiquing systems that center only certain voices. In healthcare, law, education, and policy, epistemic justice means prioritizing LGBTQ+ self-knowledge over pathologizing professional authority. It recognizes that marginalization creates specific insight; LGBTQ+ people's navigation of systemic oppression generates wisdom essential to justice work globally.