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In:Geopolitics and Activism in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Edited by Giuliana Fenech and Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 18] 2026
► pp. 211–223

Chapter 13
Epistemic injustices in teaching and research practices with children’s literature

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This chapter explores epistemic injustices in the field of children’s literature research and its teaching practices in higher education. It argues that children’s ways of knowing are systematically marginalized in academic settings due to adultist and Eurocentric knowledge structures. The discussion is framed in childhood studies and posthumanist critiques, which have problematized the exclusion of children as epistemic agents. Three key exclusions are analysed: the disregard for children’s contributions to literary discourse, the privileging of canonical literary culture over other media formats, and the dominance of universal aesthetic frameworks that obscure geopolitical and linguistic diversities. The chapter examines how scholarly knowledge reinforces epistemological hierarchies and proposes an “ethics of discomfort” to challenge these structures. It advocates for more porous and reciprocal research and teaching practices, where children’s cultural productions are explored beyond adultist and colonial frameworks. Ultimately, this chapter calls for a rethinking of the field, moving toward an inclusive, decolonial, and relational practice of children’s literature scholarship.
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