Knowledge Democracy

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://knowledgedemocracydspace.com/handle/123456789/1076

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    International collaboration for changing the culture of research: UN SDGs and knowledge for change consortium
    (2020) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    Dr. Budd L. Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon explore the role of international networks in advancing participatory knowledge creation for social change in higher education. They trace the evolution of participatory research from its origins in the 1970s to its institutional development today. . They describe a series of global studies produced under the Chair that document community-university research partnerships across multiple countries and connect this work to the policy debates around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including the European Union's Responsible Research and Innovation framework. The article outlines three practical ways community-based participatory research (CBPR) can support SDG-linked knowledge, framing research locally, building community knowledge partnerships, and developing new researcher competencies. It also details the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Consortium's Mentor Training Program, which has built research capacity across the global South and the "excluded North" through hubs in eleven countries. Hall and Tandon call for a transformation of research culture toward justice, equity, and community relevance.
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    Challenges in the co-construction of knowledge: A global study on strengthening structures for community university research partnerships
    (0000) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh; Tremblay, Crystal; Singh, Wafa
    What does it mean to institutionalise the co-construction of knowledge between universities and communities at a global level? This paper begins from the premise that knowledge democracy requires moving beyond expert driven models towards collaborative processes that recognise the knowledge generating capacities of each human being and of every community. Community university research partnerships are presented as a key pathway for this shift, as they create structures through which research questions, methods, processes and outcomes can be shaped jointly. Drawing on a global survey and national case studies across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, the authors examine the histories, discourses and institutional forms that support or constrain such partnerships. This paper further analyses models such as Science Shops, centers of community-based research and national policy frameworks, while identifying tensions and practical challenges in embedding such work within universities. It highlights the importance of facilitative structures, supportive leadership, transnational networks and sustained institutional commitment. In doing so, it argues that institutionalising community-based research is not only a technical exercise but a political and ideological process that reshapes how universities understand knowledge, partnership and their responsibilities to society.
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    Knowledge, democracy and action: Community university research partnerships in global perspectives
    (2013) Hall, Budd L
    How are knowledge, democracy and action intertwined in a world increasingly centered around economic development? This introductory chapter to Knowledge, Democracy and Action: Community–University Research Partnerships in Global Perspectives, written by Dr. Budd L. Hall, examines the shifting relationship between knowledge and society and the evolving role of higher education institutions within this context. As knowledge becomes central to economic growth, universities are increasingly positioned as key producers of expertise aligned with state priorities and global development agendas. Drawing on intellectual traditions shaped by John Gaventa, Paulo Freire and others, the chapter interrogates the political and pedagogical dimensions of knowledge production. Framed in the landscape of poverty reduction strategies and the Millennium Development Goals, it asks three foundational questions about the role of knowledge, the responsibilities of universities and the contributions of community–university research partnerships. It argues that these partnerships are integral to an emerging knowledge democracy movement that seeks to transform how knowledge is produced, shared and mobilised across diverse global contexts.
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    Editorial: Knowledge democracy for a transforming world
    (UTS ePress, 2020) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    The past five decades have seen enormous, worldwide growth in, and appreciation of, knowledge democracy - the discourse which we have found best contains the various theoretical approaches, values and practices within which participatory research exists. This Introduction outlines our understanding of knowledge democracy, which can be expressed by a number of principles: (1) Recognition of a multiplicity of epistemologies and ways of knowing; (2) Openness to assembling, representing and sharing knowledge in multiple forms (including traditional academic formats and all manner of social and arts-based approaches); (3) Recognition that knowledge emerging from the daily lives of excluded persons is an essential tool for social movements and other transformational strategies; and the (4) Requirement to carefully balance the need to protect the ownership of communities' knowledge with the need to share knowledge in a free and open access manner. We are pleased to present five articles from around the world that broaden and deepen our understanding of knowledge democracy -from a theoretical perspective, a practice perspective, an ontological perspective, and an action or political perspective.
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    The power of collaboration, creativity and art in knowledge mobilization: Reflections from international work
    (2020) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
    In this paper, Dr. Budd Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon examine how knowledge mobilization (KMb) can become a more effective tool for social transformation when it is integrated throughout the research process rather than treated as a final dissemination activity. Drawing on over four decades of community-based participatory research (CBPR) across the global South and excluded North, the authors contend that KMb is most powerful when embedded in research from the outset, rather than added after the fact. Working within a knowledge democracy framework through the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, the paper explores how creative and arts-based methods have served as powerful vehicles for sharing research with communities, policymakers, and the broader public. Through four case studies—domestic workers in India using a hand-stitched saree to document sexual harassment, waste recyclers in Brazil producing participatory videos for policy advocacy, immigrant women in Toronto presenting through spoken word at City Hall, and a community health fair in rural South Africa the paper illustrates how art reaches people and places that conventional academic outputs cannot. The paper concludes that creativity is not decorative in KMb; it is essential, particularly when research aims at social transformation and meaningful community change.
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    Beyond epistemicide: Knowledge democracy, higher education and the path towards pluriversality
    (UNESCO Chair, 2016) Hall, Budd L
    How have our knowledge systems been shaped by histories of colonisation, enclosure and dispossession, and what might it mean to move beyond them? In this lecture delivered in Brighton, Dr. Budd L. Hall traces how contemporary knowledge systems are rooted in long histories of land theft, colonial expansion and epistemicide. Beginning with a personal account of his family’s migration to Canada and the acquisition of Indigenous land through illegal and immoral means, he situates his own access to higher education within the material histories of dispossession that financed universities and consolidated Western knowledge systems as dominant. Drawing on David Harvey’s notion of accumulation by dispossession and Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ concept of epistemicide, Hall argues that universities have functioned as sites of enclosure, determining who is authorised to produce knowledge and whose knowledge systems are dismissed. Through examples from India, Uganda, South Africa and beyond, the lecture highlights alternative knowledge systems that persist despite marginalisation. It calls for transforming knowledge systems through knowledge democracy, co-creation and a sustained commitment towards epistemic justice.
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    A Canadian approach to higher education, community-engagement and the public good: The future of continuing education
    (2009) Hall, Budd L
    What is the relationship between society and universities in the 21st century? In this article, Budd L Hall reflects on the future direction of Canadian higher education and its responsibility to the public good. Situating his argument within long-standing debates in continuing education, he examines how universities are increasingly shaped by market pressures, corporatisation, and funding constraints. Instead of framing social justice and economic concerns as oppositional, Hall calls for a more integrated approach that recognises the interdependence of markets, communities, and democratic life. Drawing on decades of work in community-based research and engagement, he argues that universities must move towards institutionalising meaningful partnerships with communities. Community-based research, he suggests, should be embedded within teaching and research practices as a pathway to social action. In conclusion, this article invites readers to reconsider how higher education institutions can remain socially relevant by strengthening their civic role and deepening their accountability to the communities they serve.
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    Knowledge and engagement: Building capacity for the next generation of community based researchers
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2016-10) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L; Lepore, Walter; Singh, Wafa
    Knowledge and Engagement summarizes the main findings of a global study titled ‘Building the Next Generation of Community-Based Researchers’ (a.k.a. the Next Gen project) undertaken between May 2014 and April 2016, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The overall objective of the Next Gen project was to increase access to high quality training in Community Based Research (CBR) within higher education institutions (HEIs) and civil society organizations (CSOs). The research aimed to understand the current state-of-the-art in pedagogies and strategies for building CBR capacities, and to work towards the strengthening of existing training fieldwork and the theoretical and curricular content on participatory research within and outside academia. The book opens with a theoretical chapter on pedagogical principles about training, teaching and learning CBR, which have been elaborated by triangulating three data sources: systematic literature reviews, a global survey, and case studies on CBR training. It advances the discussion on capacity building for CBR because, while large amounts of literature abound on doing CBR, very little is available on training for CBR. The results of the first-ever global survey on training modalities, materials and locations for CBR are presented in Chapter 3. It confirms, among other things, that the demand for training in CBR far exceeds the supply of training opportunities. Twenty-one case studies (of nine HEIs and 12 CSOs from 14 countries) with lessons form Chapter 4, followed by a comparative analysis of the case studies using the pedagogical principles of training, teaching and learning CBR as an analytical framework. A detailed summary of the project’s findings, conclusions and recommendations round off the book, with appendices containing the guidelines for conducting thematic reviews, the survey questions, a list of institutions providing top training programs in CBR, and the case study framework. Knowledge and Engagement represents a collective effort to highlight many issues and areas of work in CBR training, analyzes the current scenario and opportunities, and provides recommendations on what can be done to provide best quality training for the next generation of community based researchers.