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Showing posts with the label experience; authenticity

Do we need to experience something to write about it?

One of the concepts that continually haunts the social scientist working on issues of social justice is the apparent disconnect between the issues he/she works on and the lived experiences of oppression and disempowerment that are often tied to these issues. So a question that naturally arises amidst this power imbalance is one of authenticity. How does one find the adequate language to talk about say poverty and hunger without having experienced poverty and hunger herself/himself? What credibility or meaningful place do I occupy as a scholar to speak about issues of poverty when my lived experiences have been situated amidst a privileged middle class upbringing? How can I talk about hunger in my work when I have not experieced hunger myself? I don't think there is a simple answer to this question. The academic response typically to questions such as this is one of defensiveness. Answers typically verge on responses such as "One does not really need to experience hunger to