Knowledge Participation and Empowerment
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Date
1997-11
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Abstract
Efforts to understand and change a given social reality have always been based on perspectives of those promoting such change. Knowledge systems and knowledge producing institutions have been at the forefront of defining and organising such perspectives. In most societies and periods of human history, the elites have maintained hegemonic control over such knowledge systems. These dominant perspectives for understanding and changing social reality have mostly been the perspective of those in positions of power in a given society. Thus dominant knowledge about and perspectives on social reality have largely been those supported by the elite and the powerful in a given society.
Description
Throughout history, elites have controlled knowledge systems, shaping how social reality is understood and changed. Marginalized voices and subaltern perspectives have been excluded as unscientific or invalid. Participatory Research emerged to challenge this, offering a bottom-up approach to knowledge. It values the lived experiences and wisdom of ordinary people. PR provides an alternative framework for creating and legitimizing knowledge outside elite control.
Keywords
Bottom-Up Research, Knowledge and Power, Alternative Epistemologies, Social Reality Representation, Elite Knowledge Systems
Citation
Tandon, Rajesh. (1997). Knowledge Participation and Empowerment.