Promise+and+peril+of+knowing+together

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** The promise and peril of knowing together: Lessons from farmer discussion groups and schools of philosophy for extension workers, 1934-1946 ** Timothy Shaffer, PhD candidate, Cornell University [tjs279@cornell.edu]


 * Keywords:** Deliberative democracy, co-creating knowledge, citizen professionalism, land grant tradition, historical analysis


 * Conference track:** Organizational change and sustainability


 * Format:** Research/Scholarly paper

As a society we currently face complex, wicked challenges that have yet to be effectively addressed through technocratic expertise. A dominant narrative is that higher education’s role is to offer unbiased, objective expertise for the betterment of society. Scott Peters calls this the heroic meta-narrative where relationship between academics and citizens operate as one-directional informational transfers (2007, 2010). Yet there are counter-narratives about how academics engage in public work. Specifically, some faculty believe that citizens are important contributors to democratic society and the role of academics is to co-create public goods with them (Boyer, 1996; Boyte, 2004).
 * Summary**

While language to describe this engagement has only recently emerged, we find commonalities with earlier times. M. L. Wilson wrote about interconnected complexities and interdependence and touched on the importance of knowledge and judgment as well as the need for collaborative work between academic experts and citizens (1939a; 1939b).

Motivated by desires to solve agricultural problems while advancing democratic ideals, USDA administrators (Wilson included) established a deliberative democracy initiative in 1934 composed of two parts: “farmer discussion groups,” and “Schools of Philosophy for Extension Workers” that were organized by USDA staff with presentations by university faculty and group discussion with all participants about the presented topics.

Despite the “democratic” motivations of program developers, the American Farm Bureau Federation and many Extension administrators and agents defunded them. In this paper, I argue that this can be seen as a prophetic story about the promise of public philosophy that positions experts as civic professionals who work with and for the people to advance economic, political, and cultural ideals.

This paper will appeal to those interested in public work and the tensions related to creating and sustaining democratic spaces where academics and “ordinary” citizens co - create knowledge to address public problems.

Boyer, E. L. (1990). //Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate//. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
 * References**

Boyer, E. L. (1996). The scholarship of engagement. //Journal of Public Service and Outreach, 1//(1), 11–20.

Boyte, H. C. (2004). //Everyday politics: Reconnecting citizens and public life//. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Boyte, H. C., & Kari, N. N. (1996). //Building America: The democratic promise of// //public work//. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

de Sousa Santos, B. (2012). The university at a crossroads. //Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge//, //10//(1), 7–16.

Fear, F. A., Rosaen, C. L., Bawden, R. J., & Foster-Fishman, P. G. (2006). //Coming to critical engagement: An authoethnographic exploration.// Lanham, MA: University Press of America.

Peters, S. J. (2007). //Changing the story about higher education’s public purposes and work: Land-grants, liberty, and the little country theater// (Foreseeable Futures Position Paper No. 6)//.// Ann Arbor, MI: Imagining America.

Peters, S. J. (2010). //Democracy and higher education: Traditions and stories of civic engagement.// East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.

Wilson, M. L. (1939a). //The new department of agriculture.// Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Texas Agricultural Workers Association.

Wilson, M. L. (1939b). Patterns of rural cultures. In O. E. Baker, R. Borsodi, & M. L. Wilson (Eds.), //Agriculture in modern Life// (pp. 215-227). New York, NY: Harper.


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