Belonging and Knowledge Articulation in Epistemically Fragile Communities of Practice

Abstract

Organisations operate under conditions of social and technological acceleration‚ contested knowledge, and epistemic instability. Knowledge articulation is made difficult not only because knowledge is tacit but because the legitimacy of the knower is uncertain․ This paper draws upon qualitative research conducted with two women-centered Communities of Practice (CoPs) showing how such spaces , were experienced by the women who participated in them  less as formal, professional‚ knowledge-sharing communities and more as relational spaces for recognition‚ belonging and epistemic legitimacy․ In particular‚ it reflects on how the spiritually-inflected relational practices of these CoPs enabled women community members to articulate knowledge and experience in ways that they generally found more difficult to do in other more formal settings in their organisations which were characterised by hierarchy‚ alienation and risk of testimonial injustice․ This paper adds to KM scholarship through showing how relational recognition and spiritually-inflected belonging in these two CoPs created conditions in which knowledge became articulate․