Popular University and democratization of knowledge: the case of The Federal University of Southern Bahia

Abstract

Anísio Teixeira and Paulo Freire conceived of education as a tool for social integration, equity and socio-political emancipation, allowing to define the university in a popular perspective. The concept of Popular University reserves to higher education a central role in promoting social integration and in building sustainable human development, alternative to neoliberal models of development. The case of the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB), the newest Brazilian public university, is presented in this text as a model of Popular University. It is analyzed as a model of decolonial, intercultural and emancipatory university, taking higher education as a requirement for democratization of knowledge, encounter of knowledges, cognitive justice, political equity and environmental sustainability.