Coloniality, Socio‐Epistemic Vices and the Question of Knowledge in Iran

ABSTRACT While a diverse group of scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines addressed and questioned Euro‐Americocentric hegemony as the dominant orientation in knowledge production, I believe that Euro‐Americocentrism is not the only problem that affects knowledge production. I am concerned that scholars are caught in a circle of mapping the contours of this Euro‐Americocentric hegemony in knowledge production that they mostly fail to perceive other forms of coloniality enacted by the non‐whites and the Global South. There are less‐noticed but everyday non‐Eurocentric forms of socio‐epistemic vices and hegemonic orientations, many of which lead to distrust, sexism and racism, exclusion, and alienation. These socio‐epistemic vices cause epistemic harm and can be seen as parallel to Euro‐Americocentrism. Anchored within such discourse, this paper reinforces a paradigm of decoloniality that involves scrutinizing behaviors and practices as everyday social interactions reflect deep‐rooted epistemology. Using examples of socio‐epistemic vices in Iran, I demonstrate how these vices and subjugations affect knowledge production.