Building knowledge democracy from the university: A case study in Spain

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to describe a singular experience in the University of Seville, Spain which connects universities and communities. It is a descriptive paper which strives to explore the work done to break the gap between universities and people in communities. Perhaps, one of the most important problems in our societies is a lack of democracy in matters such as knowledge, its construction and dissemination. On the other hand, it is important to break the dominant discourse that universities always teach communities. According to Freire, teaching and learning are two steps of the process of creating knowledge. Thus, universities have to learn from communities as well as teach them. The Paulo Freire Chair at the University of Seville was created in 2008. In the article I describe the work done by the Chair, which, within the framework of an alliance between the people and the public institution, works to edify a knowledge which is truly beneficial. In the conclusions, I reflect on some findings in order to explain how the Paulo Freire Chair, as a university tool, can help to edify knowledge democracy and how it can be done from methodological approaches such as participatory research.