Contradicting Epistemic Inequalities: The Case of the Journalist Navina Sundaram

This contribution asks how social inequalities are perpetuated through colonial silences maintained through practices of knowledge production in journalism. Drawing on postcolonial scholarship, it examines how these silences have historically been challenged between the 1960s and 1980s. Based on documents from the personal files of Navina Sundaram, one of the first non-White journalists on West German television, it traces the practices of contradicting that challenge and uphold journalistic epistemology: contradicting visibility in editorial practices, contradicting through international networks, and denying belonging. Together, these practices show how debates on diversity in German journalism are rooted in historical struggles for epistemic justice.