School of Sociology and Social Policy Research Seminar: Who knows? Epistemic positioning, or the Merton effect

We are delighted to welcome Jana Bacevic (Durham University) to deliver the School of Sociology and Social Policy Research Seminar.

Abstract: The politics of disciplinary knowledge involve not only inclusion or exclusion, but also evaluation. Over the past years, sociology in the UK has become more aware of the effects of colonial legacies on the formation of the disciplinary canon. But is acknowledging past injustices sufficient to change practices of judgment whose knowledge matters, and for what, in contemporary situations? 

This talk shows how ordinary forms of academic evaluation, interpretation, and classification can 'position' knowers and knowledge claims in ways that reproduce the gendered, raced, and western-centric inequalities in knowledge production. 

About Jana Bacevic

Jana Bacevic is assistant professor at the Department of Sociology at Durham University.

Jana's work is in social and political theory and politics of knowledge production; she has published extensively on the relationship between politics of expertise, education policy, social inequality and injustice.  

How to join the research seminar

The event will be held on Zoom, access the meeting via the link and joining details below: 

Join Zoom Meeting 

Meeting ID: 832 3441 7878 

Passcode: 00Yzx+ 

No booking required.