APJFES Vol. 3 No. 1 2024
APJFES Vol. 3 No. 1 2024 pp. 1–13
eISSN 2811-3586
Research Paper
Manifestations of Epistemic Violence in Assumptions of Students in
an Undergraduate Classroom in Bangladesh
Ali Azgor Talukder
BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology, Bangladesh
*Moses Samuel
Taylor’s University, Malaysia
© e Author(s) 2024. is article is published with open access by Taylor’s Press.
Abstract: Epistemic violence refers to the silencing and displacing of a system of knowledge
deemed to be inferior by another system of knowledge self-perceived as superior. In postcolonial
context, it refers to the dominance and imposition of Western ways of perceiving the world by
displacing the non-Western ways of perceiving the world. Colonial discourse is so encompassing
in the postcolonial countries that students come to the classroom with assumptions that carry
baggage of epistemic violence. According to Freire, the manifestations of this global “theme”
may take particular dimensions in particular societies. Critical interrogation of epistemic
violence requires identification of the particular manifestations of epistemic violence in
particular societies. Following the approach of critical discourse analysis, this paper attempts
to explore how epistemic violence manifests itself in the student assumptions exposed in their
classroom interactions in an undergraduate classroom in Bangladesh, a postcolonial country.
e findings reveal that besides the Western form of epistemic violence, there are local varieties
of epistemic violence in Bangladesh. e discourses contributing to epistemic violence have
been so ingrained in society that they appear as symbolic capital exercising symbolic violence
where education plays a big role. e manifestations of epistemic violence in the context
of Bangladesh revealed in this study have implications for framing critical instruction for
problematising epistemic violence in postcolonial countries like Bangladesh.
Keywords: Epistemic violence, postcoloniality, education, symbolic violence, Bangladesh
Suggested citation: Taluker, A. A., & Samuel, M. (2024). Manifestations of epistemic violence
in assumptions of students in an undergraduate classroom in Bangladesh. Asia-Pacific Journal of
Futures in Education and Society, 3(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.58946/apjfes-3.1.P1
*Correspondence: Moses Samuel, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. Email: Moses.Samuel@taylors.edu.my