Attention! The presentation will instead be held on November 5, 2025

As part of the CRÉ Lunch Talks, Abe Tobi will give a presentation entitled “Epistemic Occlusion.”

To join via Zoom, click here.

Abstract

I introduce the concept of epistemic occlusion to describe a form of epistemic harm that occurs
when certain knowledges, frameworks, or epistemic agents are systematically rendered invisible
within dominant epistemic practices, not through active silencing or exclusion, but through
processes that pre-emptively block their recognition. Unlike testimonial strands of epistemic harms,
which concern the unfair downgrading of a speaker’s credibility, or hermeneutical strands, which
arise from gaps in collective interpretive resources, epistemic occlusion names a prior and more
elusive mechanism. It is a structurally produced condition in which certain knowledges or epistemic
agents are rendered imperceptible. I argue that epistemic occlusion operates through mechanisms
that shape what is seen, taken seriously, or even conceivable as knowledge.