“Just because you feel discriminated against, doesn’t mean you are” is a prominent slogan used not only by conservative commentators and politicians, but also by left-wing critics of identity politics. The slogan expresses scepticism about the use of personal experience as a basis for knowledge. In its more extreme articulations, it denies that personal experience of racism or sexism is a valid basis for knowledge about these phenomena. On the other hand, some activists claim that only personal experience provides knowledge of such phenomena. A case in point is the controversy over the translation of Amanda Gorman’s poems.

In particular, it was claimed that the Dutch translator, Marieke Rijneveld, was unable to translate the poems because she was not Black.

Such claims are often justified by reference to standpoint theory, which dates back to discussions in feminism starting in the 1970s and 1980s – just as the other side rejects these claims and their standpoint-theoretical underpinnings as implausible and ideological. In my talk at KWI, I will present preliminary ideas for a book that examines different claims about personal experience and knowledge made in current debates on identity politics.