WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT?
DVC Dr Mabizela on Community Engagement
WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT?
Community Engagement is defined as:
"initiatives and processes through which the expertise of the institution in the areas of teaching and research are applied to address issues relevant to its community." (Council on Higher Education)
To this definition we can add that community engagement is a two way process of learning because staff and students of the institution are continuously learning as they interact with the external community. Dissemination, generation and reconstruction of knowledge are practical outcomes of community engagement.
The definition of CE can be categorised into 2 sections, which are social and academic CE:
- Social CE refers to the work that students initiate in societies and residences as student volunteers and also the involvement of students as volunteers placed with community partner organisations
- Academic CE refers to the community projects which are distinctive to the scholarly work of universities. This involves the application of academic teaching and research to the benefit of communities in a mutual interchange for the good of all involved. An example of this would be service learning that Pharmacy students do as well as penultimate law students in the Legal Aid clinic.
“Who is our community?”
More often than not, the concept of ‘community’ denotes everyone that is not the ‘university’ and serves to perpetuate the divisive notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’. But we need to be aware that there are divis ions within the university as well and that it is only to the ‘outside community’ that Community Engagement is directed.
South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world and there is unfortunately a very clear division between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Issues of inequality are unavoidable and they form part of any project/activity outside of the University, Within RU local environment, ‘community’ is used a euphemism for ‘poor, black and living in the township’. It does not help to ignore these massive inequalities but the question is how to identify them without perpetuating them?
In fields where people-based research is a core part of the field, for example, Anthropology, much attention is given to the power and ethics issues around research. First and foremost, Community Engagement is not about providing a pool of people where students can ‘test’ their skills. Much is said about the importance of seeing Community Engagement projects/activities as ‘partnerships’ and despite the fact that this politically-correct word is bandied about liberally, it is precisely this goal that we should continuously strive toward: a partnership between University and Community. Students going into a situation ‘blind’ can and have done great damage. We need to be aware of our own biases, many of which remain unconscious until challenged as evidenced by student feedback in the Student Volunteer Programme.
Any person associated with Rhodes University, immediately carries with them a certain amount of preconceptions. Rhodes has an abundance of all forms of power: knowledge, money, etc. The value that we place on certain information determines what we see as powerful. Individuals who are not familiar with developmental ideas, values and principles will wonder what exactly the ‘community’ has to offer them, for isn’t the whole purpose of their CE project/activity to give the community something that they don’t have?
Being identified with Rhodes does not only carry with it a number of preconceptions, but a great deal of history. Rhodes, with its 106 year history in Grahamstown, has played a defining role in shaping Grahamstown, both for better and worse. The idea of the broader Grahamstown simply being a ‘laboratory’ for Rhodes students is one with a long history covering all faculties and schools. It is not merely lip-service to suggest that Community Engagement is a two-way process. Without the process being ‘two-way’ it merely perpetuates divisions and inequalities that are already entrenched.
The question of community does, however, extend further than simply one’s locality. What about a regional, national and international community? How about the communities that exist within RU? From a systems perspective of community, we could view Rhodes University as a system which is part of the broader Grahamstown community or as a community on its own with a number of systems within it interacting with the system of the broader Grahamstown community. While we try to come to terms with the meaning of community, we should also have an understanding of what characterises a community. We could presume that it appears less challenging and more prudent to decipher a community if it meets such characteristics as inclusion, commitment, consensus decision making and a common spirit. Do we take cognisance of these characteristics when initiating Community Engagement projects/ activities in Grahamstown?
