Epistemic Justice in the Marketplace

Sor Juana challenged the epistemic authority of her time—who was listened to, whose knowledge counted, whose voice was silenced. In modern consumption, epistemic injustice persists: corporate marketing and wealthy influencers are treated as authorities while the people who actually make products are rendered voiceless. Small producers, traditional artisans, indigenous knowledge-keepers, and workers possess crucial expertise about quality, sustainability, and impact—yet these voices are systematically devalued in favor of commercial narratives. Ethical consumption rooted in Sor Juana's epistemology means privileging the knowledge of those actually involved in production. It means listening to workers' accounts of conditions, trusting farmers' understanding of ecological practices, valuing artisans' mastery, and centering indigenous knowledge about materials and sustainability. This is epistemic justice: recognizing who truly knows what they're talking about and restructuring our trust accordingly. It means building direct relationships with makers, reading their stories, and treating their expertise as authoritative rather than deferring to distant corporations.