Serving Epistemic Justice Through Critical Writing Pedagogies in Science and Technology Studies (STS)

Abstract

Writing in Science and Technology Studies (STS) reproduces STS knowledge, yet ways of writing remain invisible and normative within a discipline committed to epistemological openness. Ways of knowing and languaging are inextricably linked: written knowledge plays a central role in scholars’ entry and advancement. We argue that recalibrating norms in teaching STS writing could decentralize dominant, colonial ways of thinking in the field. Although STS scholars are from many geographic and cultural backgrounds and possess diverse “languaging” repertoires, scholarship in White Mainstream English (WME) remains most valued. Constructed linguistic hierarchies disadvantage “non-native” speakers, especially English-language learners (ELLs), thereby marginalizing other ways of knowing. Concurrently, students are also STS-language learners (STSLLs), requiring assimilation to succeed in the field. We propose a critical approach to teaching that prioritizes diverse ways of knowing to liberate the writing and publication process from exclusionary tendencies experienced intersectionally by ELLs and STSLLs. We argue that developing writing skills in STS should involve reflection on presumptions and norms around language, and purposive instruction in STS language learning. Our approach empowers STSLLs and ELLs in this language acquisition, integrating writers of various backgrounds and resisting tendencies to rank and devalue languaging that diverges from WME.