{"id":36758,"date":"2026-03-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/article\/beyond-representation-systemic-epistemic-alterity-and-the-architecture-of-knowledge-in-the-contemporary-academy\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:00:00","slug":"beyond-representation-systemic-epistemic-alterity-and-the-architecture-of-knowledge-in-the-contemporary-academy","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/article\/beyond-representation-systemic-epistemic-alterity-and-the-architecture-of-knowledge-in-the-contemporary-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Representation: Systemic Epistemic Alterity and the Architecture of Knowledge in the Contemporary Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this article, published in two parts by <em>Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective<\/em> (SERRC), <a href=\"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/chercheur\/saleh-wael\/\"><strong>Wael Saleh<\/strong><\/a>, a researcher at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and a member of Pluriel&#8217;s coordination committee, proposes the analytical framework of \u201csystemic epistemic alterity\u201d to make visible a specific configuration of epistemic power. It emerges from the interaction between institutional arrangements, evaluation regimes and algorithmic infrastructures within contemporary academic systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taking as its starting point the events commonly known as the \u201cArab Springs\u201d, the author argues that these sequences revealed not a mere failure of representation or interpretation, but a deeper crisis of the epistemic architecture that governs the production, validation and intelligibility of knowledge. Drawing a parallel with Edward Said&#8217;s reflection on the October 1973 war as the matrix of his critique of Orientalism, he reactivates a foundational question: how is Western academic knowledge about Arab societies produced, and through which institutional filters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The article then brings together three planes usually kept separate: the institutional and editorial apparatus of the contemporary university; evaluative regimes (metrics, indices, rankings); and digital infrastructures (platforms, algorithms, open archives). Wael Saleh shows that at the intersection of these three logics a systematic production of epistemic alterity takes shape: a structural marginalisation of certain voices, fields and methods, which is no longer the residue of an old colonial domination but an operational effect of the contemporary tools that legitimise knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed framework is diagnostic and heuristic rather than predictive: it identifies structural conditions that shape epistemic legitimacy and visibility, without reducing them to deterministic mechanisms. It engages with theories of epistemic injustice (Fricker, Medina), postcolonial critique and Science and Technology Studies, while distinguishing itself through its attention to the digital infrastructures of evaluation. The author invites future empirical research to refine, contest or contextualise these dynamics across disciplines, regions and institutional settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Reference:<\/strong> Wael Saleh, \u201cBeyond Representation: Systemic Epistemic Alterity and the Architecture of Knowledge in the Contemporary Academy\u201d, <em>Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective<\/em>, vol. 15, no. 3, 2026, pp. 22-44. Published in two parts: <a href=\"https:\/\/social-epistemology.com\/2026\/03\/11\/beyond-representation-systemic-epistemic-alterity-and-the-architecture-of-knowledge-in-the-contemporary-academy-part-i-wael-saleh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Part I<\/strong><\/a> (11 March 2026) and <a href=\"https:\/\/social-epistemology.com\/2026\/03\/13\/beyond-representation-systemic-epistemic-alterity-and-the-architecture-of-knowledge-in-the-contemporary-academy-part-ii-wael-saleh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Part II<\/strong><\/a> (13 March 2026).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27828,"template":"","class_list":["post-36758","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"date_tournage":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beyond Representation: Systemic Epistemic Alterity and the Architecture of Knowledge in the Contemporary Academy - Pluriel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/article\/beyond-representation-systemic-epistemic-alterity-and-the-architecture-of-knowledge-in-the-contemporary-academy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond Representation: Systemic Epistemic Alterity and the Architecture of Knowledge in the Contemporary Academy - Pluriel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this article, published in two parts by Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective (SERRC), Wael Saleh, a researcher at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and a member of Pluriel&#8217;s coordination committee, proposes the analytical framework of \u201csystemic epistemic alterity\u201d to make visible a specific configuration of epistemic power. 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