Abstract
Much research has pointed to inequalities in business schools rooted in gender, class, race, language and accent, which affect access to opportunities, career progression, performance management, or a sense of belonging of different groups of academic staff. However, what so far remains less examined and which merits further investigation, is how differences and inequalities are tied to knowledge production and knowers. In this paper I consider how some structural and cultural challenges can be understood as being of an epistemic character, in other words, propagating the devaluation and/or discrediting of knowledge and knowers. Scientific knowledge production is not neutral or value-free, but instead shaped by social and political forces. It is important to examine how inequalities are tied to epistemic processes; that some knowledge is seen as more valid, and some academics are seen as more credible knowers. In this paper I frame the dynamics of dismissing or discrediting particular knowers by virtue of their attributed identities as expressions of epistemic injustice. Epistemic injustice enables viewing such acts as not simply discrete instances of individual prejudice but as systematic configurations of acts of devaluation and discrimination related to knowledge. Two aspects of the evaluation of knowledge and knowers that I suggest make useful sites of exploring epistemic injustice in business schools are student evaluations, and perceptions of accents. The lens of epistemic injustice provides insight into the conditions of the production of management knowledge, and who is allowed to participate in it.