Transdisciplinarity and epistemic communities: Knowledge decolonisation through university extension programmes

Abstract

Abstract In Latin America, a legacy of colonisation is the pervasiveness of a Eurocentric approach to knowledge. This geopolitics of knowledge entails the prioritisation of “rational” scientific knowledge over the mosaic epistemology that characterises a population born from high mestizaje (cultural and ethnic heterogeneity). Alternatively, universities could advance global cognitive justice by means of knowledge decolonisation. This article explores one way to advance that project. Based on contributions from Luso‐Hispanic scholars, I propose university extension programmes be reformulated to include epistemic communities as ecologies of knowledges. Theoretical insights are contrasted with an Ecuadorian experience, where a centre originally created to disseminate georeferenced socioeconomic and ecological indicators has evolved into a knowledge community with potential to promote plural dialogue of knowledges and influence decision making.