Abstract

TAVARES, Manuel. The University and the epistemological pluri-diversity: the construction of knowledge in terms of other non-western centered epistemological paradigms. Rev. Lusófona de Educação [online]. 2013, n.24, pp.49-74. ISSN 1645-7250.

In our time, the issues related to university and higher education bring great uncertainties, either as far as the role of universities in modern society, their internal organization, the relationships it establishes with the political economic and financial powers are concerned, or concerning the inclusion of new audiences, due to the knowledge which is passed on and due to the relationship between education, research and innovation. The issues we are concerned about are related to the epistemological dimension of the university, i.e., how it will be able or not to incorporate other models of rationality and other epistemologies which result from the cultural diversity and wealth existing in the world. Based on some proposals and theoretical analysis (Bernheim & Chauí, Estermann, Freire, Nóvoa, Santos, Teodoro), it is considered that the conventional universities, due to their commitments with the economic and financial power and with the international agendas imposed by neo-liberal organizations, due to their still colonial structure and due to the degree of coloniality which invades the dimensions of power and knowledge, do not have the capacity to include wider knowledge and promote interculturality. There are some innovative experiences of higher education in Latin America especially the intercultural universities which are rooted in indigenous and Afro-descendants communities and their projects seek to respond to the concerns and needs of the peoples and nations which have been historically excluded from social construction processes. There is Boaventura Santos’s proposal of the popular university of social movements (UPMS) and Paulo Freire’s principles of thought are regained applied to an emancipatory and popular higher education.

Keywords : Higher Education; neoliberalism; intercultural universities; epistemological diversity; Paulo Freire.

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