Epistemic injustice and poverty: a clue for a better fight

Why in the 21st Century the first of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is still eradicating poverty in all its forms everywhere? Why do we live in such an injustice and unequal world? When looking for answers, our modern society tends to focus on “material” issues, while the underlying system of knowledge production, such as the creation and distribution of knowledge, is largely disregarded. This thesis is built around the question of how understanding epistemic injustice in the development field may help to respond to the problem of poverty. The approach that ATD Fourth World practices based on recognition and development of poor people’s knowledge may give valuable hints to achieve “another” development. The essay is structured in two parts, the first one is mainly descriptive; it presents ATD Fourth World and the Joseph Wresinski Archives and Research Centre (JWC); my mission during my internship at the JWC; the methodology and the post-development approach to finally position the organization in the development field by analysing its values and ways of working. Whereas, the second part is more analytical; it discusses that even though ATD Fourth World was founded in the 1950’s, before the emergence of the post-development paradigm, its principles and way of acting are close to this approach and to some contemporary concepts such as epistemic injustice, epistemic violence and ecology of knowledges. In the following chapter, the Seminar of Social Philosophy is presented as an ATD Fourth World’s strategy of fighting against epistemic injustice. Afterward, the Seminar as well as other ATD Fourth World’s actions are regarded from the point of view of the contemporary thinkers and linked with Joseph Wresinski’s thought