Our vision is of a world where knowledge has been de-colonized, allowing new understandings to emerge that create a more just and sustainable society.
Our collective seeks to build a global community of practice, working with practitioners using the following research approaches:
- Participation– different groups working together on an equal footing in all stages of knowledge and technology creation as well as regulatory processes.
- Transdisciplinary insights– working with people from different traditions of knowledge systems and with diverse world views. This includes indigenous people, farmers, scientists and people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
- Transformation– we focus on creating knowledge for action, changing society and creating a more just world.
We work towards a world of knowledge and technology creation that has broken free from centuries of colonialism and neo-colonialism.
Some people have formal training as experts. Some people’s expertise comes through their life experience. Our work aims to break down the barriers that exist between these two groups.
We can only tackle many of the most difficult problems in the world by building trust between people with different perspectives and acknowledging historical injustices. Professional researchers should work closely together with everyday experts. These experts-by-experience includes food producers, indigenous peoples, workers, NGOs, and social movements – amongst others
We work with co-researchers, especially those excluded from professional research settings.
People’s Knowledge was founded in 2015 by Tom Wakeford, Colin Anderson and the People’s Knowledge Collective (2015-2018). It is now hosted by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University.
A performance at a pop-up citizen’s jury: The Future of Food with or Without Brexit, London, 12 May 2016 (just before the first Brexit referendum).