Towards a knowledge democracy movement

Abstract

What would it mean to build a democracy of knowledge in a world marked by deep inequality and exclusion? In this paper, Dr. Budd L. Hall examines the emergence of a knowledge democracy movement, connecting traditions of adult education with practices of community-based research and community–university engagement. Placing his argument within global concerns such as poverty, ecological crisis and democratic strain, he challenges dominant assumptions that position universities as the primary producers of legitimate knowledge. Drawing on institutional experience, international networks and illustrative case examples including the Office of Community Based Research at the University of Victoria and global alliances for community engaged research, Hall combines historical analysis with empirical insights. The paper brings together intellectual traditions in adult education with examples from engaged scholarship to demonstrate how knowledge is created across multiple sites. Hall argues that knowledge democracy requires recognizing communities, Indigenous peoples and social movements as knowledge producers in their own right. By foregrounding plural epistemologies and participatory research, he calls for rethinking the architecture of knowledge to advance social action, citizenship and social justice in the twenty-first century.