Juliet Hess has long been a voice for equity and inclusion in the classroom. Now, the professor of music education at the Michigan State University College of Music is set to publish her latest book which presents practical ways to honor and embolden knowers across a range of minoritized student populations.

Cultivating Epistemic Justice in Music Education: Honoring Minoritized Knowers, which is set to publish by Routledge on February 17, 2026, brings together years of research, philosophical inquiry, and classroom experience to offer a transformative framework for music educators.

“At its base, epistemic justice is about doing right by people as knowers,” said Hess. “Every person comes to the classroom with knowledge and experiences, and that includes teachers and learners. So, it’s about trying to figure out how to do right by people across the full range of identities in the classroom.”