WORDS THAT MIGHT SAVE NECKS: PHILIPP KHABO KOEPSELL, EPISTEMIC MURDER AND POETIC JUSTICE1

Abstract

I begin with a poem of Koepsell's that questions the writing of poetry in times of political upheaval, and whether words can save necks. I then examine the collection Die Akte James Knopf for possible answers to those questions. José Medina conceptualises epistemic death, and Koepsell reveals the closeness of epistemic and actual death. I read Die Akte James Knopf as both a poetry collection and a dossier of evidence in a case of epistemic murder; it uncovers the mechanisms of racialised knowledge production/perpetuation, and produces what David Lloyd has called poetic justice. Medina writes of guerilla pluralism, which in this context I call provoking pluralism, because it privileges linguistic intervention over violence. In its grammar and effects, provoking pluralism is both irritating and potentially generative. I also conceive of ‘guerilla epistemology’, which operates a reversal, or revolution, of epistemic privilege. Koepsell provokingly acknowledges that the violence of epistemic injustice is, like other kinds of violence, tied to pleasure: racialised injustice sells. With his poetry and strategic use of humour, I argue, he produces counter-pleasure, which infiltrates dominant knowledge and stimulates change. It might one day save someone's neck.