Epistemology of Ignorance:
What We Don’t Know About Race and Racism
Lecture by Yoko Arisaka
January 22, 2026, 6 p.m. (CET)
Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig, Germany
We are pleased to announce an upcoming lecture by our fellow Yoko Arisaka, hosted by the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig.
In this lecture, Arisaka introduces the concept of an epistemology of ignorance as a critical tool for analyzing contemporary forms of racism. Rather than treating racism solely as a matter of individual prejudice or moral failure, the talk explores how ignorance itself can be socially produced, historically sedimented, and structurally sustained, often within societies that officially affirm liberal values such as equality, autonomy, and respect.
By examining the tensions within liberal democratic frameworks, the lecture sheds light on why experiences of everyday racism persist despite formal commitments to anti-discrimination. Arisaka argues that dominant ways of knowing—and not knowing—play a crucial role in rendering racialized injustices invisible or unintelligible, thereby limiting effective responses to racism.
The lecture offers a philosophically rigorous and socially engaged perspective that invites participants to rethink how racism is understood, addressed, and criticized today.
Date: Thursday, 22 January 2026
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: MOGI 06/030
Host: Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
Organized by Prof. Dr. Felix Trautmann (Philosophie, HBK Braunschweig)
Yoko Arisaka is a philosopher whose work spans social and political philosophy, Japanese philosophy, and global intellectual history. She is currently a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies “Philosophizing in a Globalized World” at the University of Hildesheim (DFG, 2025–2028). Previously, she held the Roche Research Chair at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture (Nanzan University, Nagoya) and worked as a research associate in the DFG project “Histories of Philosophy from a Global Perspective” at Hildesheim. Before moving to Germany, she taught philosophy for many years at the University of San Francisco. Her recent publications include the Tetsugaku Companion to Nishida Kitarō and Histories of Philosophy and Thought in the Japanese Language from 1835 to 2021 (co-edited with Leon Krings and Tetsuri Kato).