An Epistemological Study of Igbo Indigenous Knowledge in Contemporary Educational Discourse: Towards a Framework for Epistemic Justice

This dissertation undertakes an epistemological investigation of how Igbo indigenous knowledge systems are positioned, engaged, and transformed within contemporary Nigerian educational discourse, developing an original framework for epistemic justice in Igbo education grounded in African philosophical traditions. The concept of epistemic justice, originating in the work of Miranda Fricker and extended through decolonial African scholarship, provides a productive theoretical entry point for examining the systematic undervaluation of Igbo ways of knowing within educational institutions shaped by colonial and post-colonial knowledge hierarchies. The study employs a critical discourse analysis of educational policy documents, school textbooks, university curricula, and public intellectual discourse on Igbo knowledge from 2019 to 2024, supplemented by philosophical dialogues with twenty-four Igbo knowledge holders, twelve Igbo academic philosophers, and eight curriculum policymakers. Findings document three persistent mechanisms of epistemic injustice in Igbo educational discourse: testimonial injustice whereby Igbo community knowledge claims are systematically discounted in curriculum decision-making, hermeneutical injustice arising from the absence of Igbo conceptual resources in educational interpretation frameworks, and epistemic appropriation in which Igbo knowledge content is incorporated into curricula without attribution or structural authority. An original Igbo Epistemic Justice Framework is developed, integrating Igbo philosophical concepts of ihe, ama-ama, and omenala as foundational epistemic categories. Keywords: epistemic justice, Igbo indigenous knowledge, educational discourse, decolonisation, African philosophy.