Quando il sapere diventa bersaglio: epistemicidio, patrimonio culturale ed educazione nei conflitti armati

Every armed conflict is an act of destruction, yet some of its most insidious effects lurk beyond mere material devastation: war obliterates knowledge, shatters epistemic structures, and silences the voices that transmit wisdom. Epistemicide, a concept still too often marginalized in academic discourse, denotes the systematic erasure of entire intellectual, linguistic, and cultural traditions—an assault upon a people’s very capacity to define themselves through their past and to envision their future.

If epistemic violence has manifested in myriad forms throughout history—from the destruction of the libraries of Alexandria and Baghdad to the erasure of Indigenous traditions by former imperial powers—it assumes, in contemporary conflicts, an especially pernicious guise: the annihilation of educational infrastructures, the plundering of cultural heritage, the persecution of intellectuals, and the rewriting of collective memories.

This chapter seeks to explore the multifaceted nature of epistemicide in wartime contexts, interrogating the intricate relationship between cultural heritage, knowledge transmission, and education in emergency settings. After an introductory reflection on the phenomenon, the analysis will focus on emblematic cases that have shaped contemporary history—from the Taliban’s Afghanistan to the epistemicide perpetrated by Israel (tragically with Italian support) against the Palestinian people, and the fratricidal struggles in Syria—revealing how the destruction of knowledge is not a collateral consequence of war but a strategic objective, a method of identity annihilation and political domination.

The reflections herein are not solely grounded in academic inquiry; they also draw upon my direct experience in crisis zones such as Afghanistan and Gaza, where I have personally engaged in humanitarian interventions in Education in Emergency—understood not merely as an emergency response, but as an act of epistemic resistance. Preserving and reconstructing educational systems in war-torn contexts is not only an ethical imperative but a strategic necessity to counter epistemicide. Knowledge, after all, is not merely the legacy of the past; it is a battleground upon which the future is contested. In this sense, in a world where the erasure of memory often proves more effective than physical obliteration, understanding and resisting epistemicide emerges as both a moral and a scientific imperative.