Abstract

This article argues that the reception of the work of Cheikh Anta Diop by French historians and Egyptologists is a case of epistemic injustice as this concept has been defined by the British philosopher Miranda Fricker. I first explain the concept of epistemic injustice and then show, using Popper’s demarcation criterion, that it is impossible to objectively reject Diop’s work as lacking in scientificity. I thus analyze the heterogeneity of Diop’s work reception depending on the positionality of the actors in the French scientific field and conclude that this reception is only understandable if we analyze it as an illustration of the phenomenon of epistemic injustice.