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Part of
Language and Violence: Pragmatic perspectives
Edited by Daniel N. Silva
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 279] 2017
► pp. 171–188

Chapter 7
On languages, bodies and epistemic violence

This paper discusses the articulations between the differentiations of bodies and the invention of languages. As post-colonial and decolonial authors and feminist authors point out, in spite of their central role in the construction and classification of languages, bodies tend to become invisible in the scholarship. To explore this intersection between scholarship on language and bodies, this paper argues that (1) there are two fields of contemporary studies that can account for the junction of differentiations of bodies and the differentiations of languages, namely feminist studies on intersectionality and studies on metapragmatics and metadiscursive regimes about languages; and (2) epistemic violence is the best category to explain some perverse consequences of this junction, since appropriation and effacement work together to invent languageless differences.

Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Feminist studies on intersectionality
  • Metadiscursive regimes and metapragmatics of languages
  • Epistemic outcast
  • Final remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.279.08pin
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