Abstract

An appreciation and respect of how knowledge is created, classified and perpetuated is integral to community-work praxis. As community workers, ensuring that we have an epistemological foundation that guides our practice in a way that focuses on the systemic challenges and oppressions of those we serve is central to how we engage with communities. What we are taught, formally and informally, is grounded in the epistemic foundations of those who teach us. We in turn use that knowledge in our everyday engagement with the communities and individuals we serve. These epistemologies can and will cause harm if we are not careful to ensure that those we teach are taught the skills to engage with others in a way that does not eliminate or diminish their ways of knowing and creating knowledge.