Skip to content

willful ignorance

📖 Definitions

"Willful ignorance is a deception that we impose upon ourselves, but it is not an isolated lie we consciously tell ourselves, a belief we know to be false but insist on repeating. Rather, willful ignorance is a systematic process of self-deception, a willful embrace of ignorance that infects those who are in positions of privilege, an active ignoring of the oppression of others and one's role in that exploitation." (Tuana 2006, 11)

💡 Examples

  • Systemic racism involves active production, preservation, and management of ignorance with respect to the conditions experienced by Black people and people of colour
  • Cultivation of ignorance about incest and child sexual abuse in middle class white families

🔗 Relations

📚 References

  • Tuana, Nancy. 2006. “The Speculum of Ignorance: The Women’s Health Movement and Epistemologies of Ignorance.” Hypatia 21 (3): 1–19. https: doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2006.tb01110.x.