Joint Ignorance: A Critical Phenomenological Account

Relations of oppression are often occluded or justified by forms of ignorance. In this paper, I provide a critical phenomenological account of how such ignorance can be jointly enacted in and through joint attention. Recognizing the role of joint attention in producing and maintaining ignorance allows us to better understand how ignorance can be solicited or encouraged in individuals by concrete others and how structural forms of ignorance can be jointly initiated or remain unchallenged. If overcoming ignorance is part of the process of eliminating oppression, we will have to consider the role interpersonal relations play in becoming or remaining ignorant about the reality and impact of relations of oppression.