We are thrilled to announce that Dr Alice Monypenny will be joining project EPIC from May 2025. As an introduction, we asked her some questions about her research.
What are your research interests?
I’m interested in the idea of epistemic agency – what it means to be a part of the processes and activities through which we produce and share knowledge. A lot of recent research related to epistemic injustice focuses on the ways in which people may have their epistemic agency limited, for example by being excluded from conversations, lacking adequate hermeneutical resources or being regarded as unreliable informants. However, I am interested in exploring the strategies people from oppressed and marginalised communities develop to cope with epistemic injustice.
In my recent work, I have argued that sometimes epistemic vices, such as closed-mindedness or intellectual arrogance, can be developed as coping strategies in hostile environments. My most recent paper (coming out in the Journal of Philosophical Research soon) defends a position in virtue/vice epistemology, called ‘normative contextualism’, which states that sometimes, depending on context, these traits may not be intellectual vices because of the role they play in allowing their bearer to cope with the challenges of their epistemic environment.
I’m also interested more generally in how positive environments enable people to have a voice, my PhD research focused on understanding the role of safe spaces in education.
Alice Monypenny
Why is studying epistemic injustice in healthcare important?
Understanding what it is like to live in our own bodies is such a fundamental part of being able to understand and interpret our experiences and how we interact with the world around us. That is why I think that understanding epistemic injustice within healthcare is so important – if someone lead to doubt their ability to understand their own experience of embodiment and make sense of the symptoms or conditions they experience, then this can have a significant impact on how they view themselves as a knower. It’s important to think about the ways in which healthcare systems and institutions can undermine people’s sense of understanding their own experiences – whether that’s through negative interactions with healthcare professionals or alienating language and labels.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m currently interested in the strategies adopted by patients and those seeking diagnosis and treatment when they interact with healthcare professionals, particularly when they hold back information about their symptoms or medical history. I’m using Kristie Dotson’s concept of ‘testimonial smothering’ to understanding this practice and exploring the way in which it can be an exercise of epistemic agency by enabling those who use it to carefully navigate tricky relationships with healthcare professionals who are gatekeeper to treatment and diagnosis. At the moment I’m exploring two case studies: patients with chronic pain; and trans and non-binary individuals seeking to access gender-affirming care. I’m also interested in the ways that patient communities and networks share information and resources such as tips for engaging with doctors or what to say in order to be taken seriously and get access to the right diagnoses and treatments.
