Knowledge, democracy and action: Community university research partnerships in global perspectives

Abstract

This introduction outlines the central argument for examining the potential of community-university research partnerships (CURPs) to contribute to global poverty reduction, sustainability, and social justice. Drawing on an international study, the research frame CURPs as a key component of an emerging "knowledge democracy movement." The text critiques the dominant, market-driven "knowledge economy" and the limitations of "knowledge society" discourse. It instead builds on Boaventura de Sousa Santos's concept of "ecologies of knowledge," which challenges the "abyssal thinking" that grants modern science a monopoly on truth. This framework argues that "cognitive injustice" is linked to social injustice and champions the value of knowledge from "the other side of the line"—including popular, peasant, and Indigenous ways of knowing. The paper posits that a knowledge democracy movement, rooted in the work of figures like Freire and Gaventa, is an action-oriented formation that recognizes the "epistemic privilege" of marginalized communities. While acknowledging the competing pressures of marketization and managerialism in higher education, the text identifies the global trend of community engagement as a practical pathway for linking knowledge, democracy, and action for systemic change.