Epistemology of the unspeakable: articulating and thinking beyond shock and non/presence

ABSTRACT Through an account of the forms of embodied knowledge that arise at the intersection of autism and childhood sexual abuse, this personal-theoretical essay develops an epistemology of the unspeakable. I uncover the epistemic implications of a common response to ‘unspeakable’ accounts of injustice, namely the expression of shock and surprise. Furthermore, informed by feminist, anti-racist and anti-capitalist works, I describe an interplay between social positionality and what I call ‘non/presence’, illustrating the ways in which ubiquitous norms obscure themselves, especially from the sights and minds of the people who are not harmed by them. Finally, I discuss ways of looking critically at and beyond mechanisms of shock and non/presence. I do so through emphasising the power of hermeneutical tools and resources developed by marginalised epistemic communities, and highlighting their usefulness in advancing what would otherwise remain illegible bodily knowledge into a coherent narrative.