UNESCO co-chairs active in knowledge democracy at Colombia conference

UNESCO co-chairs active in knowledge democracy at Colombia conference

Both Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon, the two halves that comprise the UVic-PRIA (Participatory Research in Asia) UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility, were deeply involved in the Action Research Network of the America’s (ARNA2017) held in Cartagena, Colombia, this month. 

Hall brought greetings and images from the recent gathering of Indigenous Knowledge Keepers held in Jinja, Uganda, which was organised by the Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity.

Interestingly, the conference doubled as a memorial for the late Colombian Father of Participatory Action Research, Orlando Fals Borda. Both Budd and Tandon worked with Borda to create the International Participatory Research Network from the 1970s to the 1990s.

ARNA 2017 brought together 600 community-based participatory researchers from universities and communities to condsider how Community-Based Research might be used to support Colombia's transition to peace with former FARC guerrillas, now government, after a 52-year conflict. Doris Santos of the National University of Colombia and Boaventura de Sousa Santos, is a Portugese sociologist who also attended, known for coining the concept of ‘epistemicide’ or 'the killing of other knowledge systems.'