<![CDATA[Previous studies on Hamka’s Tenggelamnya Kapal van der Wijck have predominantly focused on its romantic narrative, moral values, and socio-cultural themes. However, limited attention has been given to how the novel constructs and contests epistemic authority and injustice within its narrative structure. This gap indicates the need to examine the text from the perspective of social epistemology, particularly in relation to how knowledge credibility and interpretive authority are distributed among characters. This study investigates Tenggelamnya Kapal van der Wijck as a narrative site where epistemic authority and injustice are socially constructed and negotiated. Drawing on social epistemology, particularly Miranda Fricker’s theory of epistemic injustice, the research explores how credibility, knowledge, and interpretive authority are unequally distributed in the narrative. Using a qualitative interpretative approach grounded in philosophical textual analysis, selected narrative passages are examined to identify forms of testimonial injustice, hermeneutical injustice, and the role of customary law (adat) as a dominant epistemic framework. The findings show that epistemic authority in the novel is structurally rooted in social hierarchy and lineage rather than rational justification or moral insight. Testimonial injustice appears through the systematic discrediting of marginalized characters’ speech acts. Hermeneutical injustice emerges from structural limitations in collective interpretive resources that make certain experiences difficult to articulate or understand. This study offers a novel contribution by positioning Indonesian classical literature as a critical narrative practice that interrogates the relationship between knowledge, power, and social recognition within literary representation.]]>
