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From a Disciplinary to a Transdisciplinary Vision of the University: a Space of Knowledge, Culture, Art, Spirituality, and Life 33 Domingo Adame From a Disciplinary to a Transdisciplinary Vision of the University: A Space of Knowledge, Culture, Art, Spirituality, and Life 33 From a Disciplinary to a Transdisciplinary Vision of the University: A Space of Knowledge, Culture, Art, Spirituality, and Life Domingo Adame, Universidad Veracruzana, Facultad de Teatro Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico,´ Email: [email protected] doi: 10.22545/2011/00018 ow does one understand the University sit- or universality, has stopped being operational in a uation today? Is the disciplinary paradigm world where transformations come at an increasingly Hviable? What are the consequences of this intense speed with social and political problems ever paradigm? In my paper, I give one answer to these more acute. questions and review, from my own academic experi- There are also large disparities between universi- ence in a Mexican University (Veracruzana Univer- ties of the north and those of the south and between sity), strategies like Complex Thought (Edgar Morin) public and private universities. For example, there and Transdisciplinarity (Basarab Nicolescu) to af- are abysmal differences between the National Au- firm the urgency of moving from a one-disciplinary tonomous University of Mexico or the University of vision to another{transdisciplinary. I maintain that Sao Paulo in Brazil and the National University of only with this change will the University, especially El Salvador in Central America. It cannot be denied in Latin-America, be able to offer an integral edu- that characteristics of every society determine its cation in which both professors and students may own style of education, yet the dominant paradigms solve real world problems effectively and affectively. are still imposing their educational practices. Only in this way will the University contribute to a The University, a very classic and traditional in- genuine social transformation. stitution with more than nine centuries of existence, Keywords: disciplinary, transdisciplinary, complex faces dizzying changes marked by globalization, cul- thought, effectivity, affectivity. tural diversity, and information and communication technologies. This situation occurs within the frame 1 Introduction of inequality. In light of this environment, it is necessary to ask Current State of the University How does one define if the University is currently satisfying the necessities todays University? Is there only one kind of Uni- of society and of promoting creativity by means of versity? The first problem is that there is not only the transmission and generation of knowledge. In one definition for the current University; its essence, this sense, the question is: does humanity today live Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science Vol. 2, pp. 33-39, (December, 2011) ISSN: 1949-0569 online Domingo Adame From a Disciplinary to a Transdisciplinary Vision of the University: A Space of Knowledge, Culture, Art, Spirituality, and Life 34 better than before thanks to the University? Opposite of this vision, one began to speak from It is difficult to know what part of society's achieve- the academic field of changing mentality and insti- ments are a result of the University's action while at tutional structure and of orientating the University the same time what share of responsibility the Uni- toward the sustainability. It is precisely from this versity has had in the big failures, but undoubtedly approach that we encounter two questions: how can it takes part in both. Certainly, the human potential the University respond to the challenges of the 21st locked in the University has not been sufficiently century? What reforms does the University need tapped into, especially due to its rigid institutional in order to offer an integral and open formation structure and its uncritical response to external de- that links effectivity and affectivity, which connects mands. So, its crises have its origins both from the university student with the complexity of the within and from with out. world, which contributes to the genuine social trans- formation, and which gives a place for culture, art, The Crises of the University spirituality, and life in the university? An extremely reductionist thinking has raised the The Portuguese academic Boaventura de Souza did possibility of \closing the university if it does not an analysis of the situation of the public univer- answer to its raison d'ˇetre." If its raison d'ˇetre is sity, in particular in Brazil. The analysis indicates the generation of knowledge, it is practically impos- that there are three crises: one of hegemony, due sible that this happen. However, if one goes along to the contradictions between the traditional func- with the global and neo-liberal vision of turning the tions and those who in the 20th century were at- university into a market of credits, then inevitably it tributed to it; another of legitimacy, for the fact that will have to disappear to make way for a new organi- it stopped being an institution consensual, opposite zation based on the integral and creative formation, to the contradiction of the hierarchical organization spiritual autonomy, and a connection with society of specialized knowledges and to the social and po- of the student. litical requirements of democratization and equality We must not forget, as well Edgar Morin and of opportunities; and an institutional crisis, for the Basarab Nicolescu remind us, that at present the contradiction between recovery of autonomy and the risk is the destruction of our planet and, in conse- increasing pressure for submitting it to criteria of quence, of humanity. For this reason, the University efficiency and productivity of managerial character must respond at the same level as the present cir- or social responsibility [1]. cumstances. The epistemic state of the University and its so- cial function is, today more than ever, antagonistic. Thus, one comes to recognize the need for trans- 2 The Disciplinary University formation in Latin America. The globalizing and neo-liberal perspective that promotes expansion of The disciplinary fragmentation and the division of the educational market sought to impose a manage- systemic problems maintain a theoretical superficial- rial paradigm that led the marketing of the Univer- ity, strongly conditioning the social development of sity. This stimulated the creation of the university countries. market. The disciplinary organization has a correlate in As a consequence, the problems grew. For in- the genesis of the modern universities in the 19th stance, we saw the unprecedented acceleration of the century. In this respect, the disciplines have a his- fragmentation of knowledge, a rejection of sharing toric development that is ingrained in the history knowledge, a lack of tolerance, and a separation of of society, but in addition it possesses an epistemo- science and culture (the origin of which goes back logical and paradigmatic dimension similar to the at least three centuries ago). understanding of the ways of organizing disciplinary Media culture displaced to a great extent the aca- knowledge and their processes of closing and open- demic culture. Teachers turned into objects of eval- ing. uation. Efficiency has arisen to the detriment of The notion of discipline, in this context, can be de- creativity and open thought. In sum, \universities fined as an organizing category inside the scientific follow the mandates of a lone simplistic, profession- knowledge, instituting division and specialization. alizing and enterprising culture of education" [2]. The organization of the knowledge into many disci- Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science Vol. 2, pp. 33-39, (December, 2011) ISSN: 1949-0569 online Domingo Adame From a Disciplinary to a Transdisciplinary Vision of the University: A Space of Knowledge, Culture, Art, Spirituality, and Life 35 plines has stimulated separate models, increasingly a system where the observer is a subjective partic- preventing the methodological and epistemological ipant, a co-participator in the process that before integration. was made separate in an effort to be objective. University knowledge has been predominantly dis- The situation of a change for the University offers ciplinary \whose autonomy imposed a process of to all its members the possibility of placing them- relatively decontextualized production in relation to selves within the change itself and invites others to the daily needs of society. Following the logic of actively involve themselves in this construction of this process, the researchers determined the scien- doing while doing. tific problems to resolve, defining its relevancy and Little by little, from this position, the knowledge establishing the methodologies and the rhythms of is traveling between interactions and cognitions that inquiry ... The University produces knowledge that are mutually influenced. society can apply or not, an alternative that, as so- Between a globalization that socially homogenizes cially relevant as it, may be indifferent or irrelevant and a fragmentation that mutilates education, an for the produced knowledge" (Boaventura, 2010, p. intermediate zone emerges, which is only possible 41) [1]. to conceive from a complex and transdisciplinary perspective of constructing the University. Alternatives to the Disciplinary Paradigm For example in Brazil, Ubiratan de Ambosio has 3 Transdisciplinary Vision of the raised the urgency of new models or a different way of University facing life with a new organization of the University. He proposed
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