Climate Change and Epistemic Injustices

Knowledge Transmission and Global South Legitimacy within Higher Education

Abstract

This article examines how knowledge transmission within academic systems is shaped by epistemic injustices that affect the legitimacy of Global South scholarship. In a global context marked by deepening social inequalities and accelerating climate change, academic institutions are increasingly called upon to respond to complex societal challenges. However, the production and circulation of knowledge remain structured by asymmetrical North–South relations that influence whose knowledge is recognized, valued, and transmitted. These dynamics are particularly visible in fields related to environmental issues, where Global South scholars are embedded in cycles of reproduced inequalities that also shape the solutions proposed to these challenges. We first outline how epistemic inequalities structure global academic hierarchies and environmental knowledge production. Finally, we propose a theoretical framework to examine how epistemic injustices shape knowledge transmission and the legitimacy of Global South scholarship within educational systems. This theoretical framework is grounded in theories of epistemic injustice (as illustrated throughout the text), postcolonial studies and social justice. This article aims to make these mechanisms visible and to provide a tool for assessing educational systems from a postcolonial perspective.