University-Extension in Dispute: Between the Market, the Public, and the Commons

Polson Institute for Global Development seminar

March 10 from 4:45-6:15 p.m.
Location: Warren B73 and Zoom

What is the relationship between universities and extension programs? How has this relationship, and the types of knowledge and practice traditionally conveyed by them, shifted under the pressures of globalization? Drawing on a range of experiences from Latin America, Professor Agustin Cano Menoni argues for the need to go beyond conventional views of the university as a neutral site of knowledge production, and extension programs as disinterested instruments for the dissemination of experimental knowledge. He calls for a critical rethinking and re-imagination of their interconnections at the interface between communities, the market, and the commons. 

About the speaker:

Professor Agustín Cano Menoni received his BA in Psychology from the Universidad de la República in Uruguay, his MA in Social Project Management from LUMSA University in Italy, and his PhD in Pedagogy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is currently a professor and researcher at the Universidad de la República de Uruguay (UDELAR), where he coordinates the Núcleo de Intervención e Investigación en Educación y Territorio. He is the author of Cultura, Nación y Pueblo: La Extensión Universitaria en la UNAM, 1910-2015 (2019), as well as numerous articles and book chapters on Latin American universities and extension programs.

About the Polson Institute

The Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Institute for Global Development supports theoretical and applied social science research. We fund projects and working groups that address issues ranging from economic inequality to discursive politics, contributing to Cornell’s leadership in global development.