Abstract
Epistemic exploitation occurs when privileged persons compel marginalized persons
to educate them about the nature of their oppression. I argue that epistemic exploitation
is marked by unrecognized, uncompensated, emotionally taxing, coerced
epistemic labor. The coercive and exploitative aspects of the phenomenon are exemplified
by the unpaid nature of the educational labor and its associated opportunity
costs, the double bind that marginalized persons must navigate when faced with the
demand to educate, and the need for additional labor created by the default skepticism
of the privileged. I explore the connections between epistemic exploitation
and the two varieties of epistemic injustice that Fricker (2007) identifies, testimonial
and hermeneutical injustice. I situate epistemic exploitation within Dotson’s (2012;
2014) framework of epistemic oppression, and I address the role that epistemic exploitation
plays in maintaining active ignorance and upholding dominant epistemic
frameworks.