Knowledge Democracy

How It Began

For over 40 years PRIA has been using participatory research to systematise indigenous, local, experiential knowledge as a powerful tool to take action, deepen democracy and create a fairer, more gender-just world. The path has weaved between multiple sites (local, national, global), networked multiple institutions, organisations, and communities, and generated knowledge from below on multiple themes and issues.

Knowledge democracy recognises that that there is an alternative – by generating ideas, innovations and methods in the academy which contribute and support social, economic and political systems to change and respond to the needs of everyone, not just the privileged few.

The concept of knowledge democracy gives us a discursive space in the battle for the minds of people and recognises the diverse representations of knowledge – in ceremony, song, poetry, music, theatre, etc – in addition to, not to the elimination of, the academic modes of knowledge generation.

The Way Forward

Change learning in higher education institutions

The pathway to knowledge democracy constructs education (especially higher education) as a ‘public good’ used to build ethical anchoring and facilitate civic commitment to and within society. In a humane, sustainable and inclusive future, higher education must contribute towards achievement of SDGs, climate resilience and healthy societies for all.

What has to happen in higher education to build a knowledge democracy:

Universities have to recognise that dependence on a Eurocentric knowledge system is not sufficient to solve the problems of the communities where the universities are located.
Higher education institutions need to think about democratising or de-colonising the curriculum.
Adopt a pedagogy that engages the student, including the architecture and design of the spaces where we learn.

Recognise diversity of and diversity in knowledge systems

The use of experiential knowledge and traditional indigenous and diverse knowledge systems in transformative social change is of critical importance. It is important for it to flourish and help build a knowledge ecosystem that resists social, political and economic structures that create inequality, injustice and unsustainability. A well-balanced, hybrid knowledge system that blends both indigenous and traditional knowledge with modern knowledge practices will attract and respond to the needs and aspirations of young people.

Open access

In a post-pandemic world, openness to multiple systems and locations of knowledge is especially crucial in the world of science and technology. Society has begun to recognise that science must work for society and with society to develop and use knowledge for locally-led, socio-ecological-economic development.

How science and technology serve society in an open, transparent and accountable manner:

Create a supportive culture for scientists to learn cultures and practices to make effective use of funding that contributes to society.
Inclusion of gender concerns in structures, processes, and institutional culture that put equity at the core.
Build capacities of scientists in communication of science, to become more open with the public, and share knowledge with multiple hitherto excluded stakeholders, such as local communities, civil society and community based organisations.

Publicly engaged research

Research programs need to put public engagement in all elements of the research process and the right to access materials freely on the research agenda.

Linked to this would be an increasing space in the higher education system with a mandate for students to engage with the real world.

The learning and use of participatory research and community engagement in the halls of academia can create a new generation of professionals (students and teachers) to support a knowledge democracy.

The Right to Research

The opportunity feels right to promote Right to Research – be it in the name of the pressures generated through climate impact, or because of the recovery and reconstruction efforts required to overcome the impact of the pandemic. The Right to Research needs to be promoted by involving the youth, the poor and marginalised living in urban slums, with indigenous communities, with gender and climate activists, etc.