Universities and the Co-construction of Knowledge with Communities

The article discusses the question of the co-construction of knowledge between the university and its communities in the pursuance of community engagement, which is one of the key mandates of universities in South Africa. It reflects on the limitations of most academic approaches to the concept and practices associated with the scholarship of engagement and problematises the complex notion of knowledge co-construction and what is implied in this notion, dealing with the relationship between community engagement and sociocultural power and its associated issues.