The Legacy of Epistemic Injustices in Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Alice Walker’s Everyday Use provides a rich narrative of cultural identity and heritage, manifesting the tension between differing understandings of African American history and values. Through the experiences of the protagonist, Mama, and her daughters, Dee and Maggie, Walker engages deeply with the theme of epistemic injustice—the silencing and marginalization of certain kinds of knowledge. This paper explores how Walker depicts the contrast between lived, embodied knowledge and the detached, aestheticized understanding of heritage. I argue that Everyday Use serves as a critique of Dee’s appropriation of culture and heritage and a defense of the lived experiences that inform true understanding and appreciation of one’s cultural roots. Drawing from Miranda Fricker’s theory of epistemic injustice, this paper examines how the characters in Everyday Use either perpetuate or resist epistemic violence, particularly in their relationships with the material culture of their ancestors.