Sessions Knowledge, Pluralism and Transformative Action

11-15 – 15.45 29th of September

After the opening words by Manuela Monteiro and Michael Edwards the conference will look at the result of the five thematic knowledge. We will share our results, experiences and dilemma’s that we have come across both in theory and practice in order to trigger new debate on knowledge and change. On Wednesday the 29^th the Promoting Pluralism programme and the Small Producer Agency programme will take the stage. In the plenary session of the day we will explore the dilemmas that have surfaces in these two knowledge programmes and link them to knowledge and social change. Afterwards there are four parallel sessions that build on the plenary session and explore the different aspect of the programme in relation to knowledge and change.

Plenary session Knowledge, Pluralism and Transformative Action: This session explores the dilemmas that have surfaced in the knowledge programmes on Pluralism and Small Producer Agency and links them to knowledge and social change. The Pluralism programme will discuss their findings on secularism and development and on local ecological wisdoms and global citizenship. The Small Producer Agency programme will stress the need to invest in the knowledge-making and interpretive capacities of people, especially among disadvantaged or excluded groups in order to challenge accepted notions of what is needed or effective, and bring their own ideas to the table. They will jointly address the need to pluralize the concept of development. Major conceptual shifts, new and emerging actors in civil society (e.g. religious and ethnic identity movements) present new challenges and insights into conceptualizing and managing difference (e.g. linkages and convergence between local resource problems and planetary concerns) and its role in development. Contributions by Sitharamam Kakarala (Centre for the Study of Culture and Society), Henk Manschot and Caroline Suransky (Kosmopolis Institute, UvH), Arturo Argueta (la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and Mohamed Shariff (Kabarole Research and Resource Centre).

Parallel session 1: Mapping and Interpreting Indonesian Diversity: Knowledge and intervention: This workshop presents a map of Indonesian diversity and its main problems and potentials. A decision was made to focus on religious diversity (i.e. diversity of religious communities and individuals, rather than theological dimensions), though inevitably it is connected with other forms of diversity, such as ethnicity and gender. We explored the notion of civic pluralism, including management of diversity at state and community levels. The program consists of two main areas: (1) laws and regulations and its contribution to a civic pluralist society and (2) local communities’ practices in dealing with diversity. Both dimensions help to create a layered map of Indonesian diversity: from national to local levels and including theoretical and more concrete issues. Main sources are the Annual Report of Religious Life in Indonesia (2008 and 2009), and work of Regional Team members who have theorised pluralism in Indonesia. This is followed by empirical studies of local research teams. The last part of the workshop is allocated for discussion. Contributions by Zainal Abidin Bagir (Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies), A.A.G.N Ari Dwipayana (Local politics, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University) and Mustaghfiroh Rahayu (CRCS, PhD student associated with Pluralism Knowledge Programme).

Parallel session 2: Pluralism in India: Knowledge, action and intervention: This workshop will address concerns of contemporary social action and interventions for change in India against the backdrop of the emerging context of globalisation and the debates on the ‘knowledge society’. It will present the arguments through specific case studies dealing with gender reforms, inter-religious conflict, pluralism and change within socially stereotyped identities, and the sites of ‘Pluri-culture’. The overall objective of the workshop is to present a perspective on the challenges and opportunities for social action in India in the light of the fundamental transformations anchored by the knowledge question in understanding social change. Contributions by Sitharamam Sitharamam Kakarala (Centre for the Study of Culture and Society - CSCS, Bangalore, India), Flavia Agnes (Majilis, Mumbai, India), Shahrukh Alam (CSCS and Patna Collective, Patna/Delhi, India), Khalid Anis Ansari (Patna Collective, Patna/Delhi) and Elizabeth Thomas (CSCS).

Parallel session 3: Pluralism in Uganda: Perceptions and Controversies: This workshop addresses perceptions of pluralism in Uganda and how these are nurtured. We will also explore the controversies that arise from a clash of different perceptions, which are locally rooted vs. externally-generated. The workshop presents the arguments through (1) case studies dealing with perceptions of pluralism in Northern and Central Uganda and (2) the nurturing of pluralism in families and in schools and its implications for the current political environment in Uganda. Contributions by Stella Laloyo (Institute for Peace and Strategy Studies, Gulu University), Arthur Larok (Uganda National NGO Forum), Jimmy Ssentongo (Uganda Martyrs University), John De Coninck (The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda).

Parallel session 4: Perspectives and knowledge in the realm of small holders, markets and globalization: This workshop will focus on how smallholders and their organisations use knowledge and make effective choices, in the realm of markets and globalisation. It builds on the morning plenary session and the side event held on September 28 on producer agency and the development agenda of “making markets work for the poor.” It deals both with the construction of knowledge, and the sort of change that can come from improved interpretive capacities of smallholders and people who work and trade with them. Diego Muñoz of Mainumby-Ñakurutú in Bolivia will set the scene and describe the process that led to the establishment of a global Learning Network on smallholder agency in the globalised market. Other speakers will be Sudhirendar Sharma from the Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in Asia/Pacific Region ENRAP in India, Falguni Guharay from SIMAS in Nicaragua, and Lorenzo Castillo from the Junta del Café in Peru.