Knowledge Exchange: Deconstructing the Perfect Victim

What is a knowledge exchange?

A knowledge exchange is a way for folks from various disciplines, life experiences, and perspectives to come together and share in an equitable dialogue. This is a way for the UMBC community to work as learning collaborators, and learn from each other.

Inspired by the tenets of radical pedagogy that are outlined by scholars such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, we at the Women’s Center want to create space for learning that blurs the power dynamics of a typical teacher-student relationship and posits, instead, a team of “co-investigators.” We envision an opportunity for professors, students, staff, community members, etc. to all come together to learn from each other and work out problems using their unique knowledge bases.

In our knowledge exchanges we aim to do several things:

• Create a network of lifelong learners and curious co-investigators among all aspects of the UMBC community
• Collaborate on dynamic solutions to complex, multi-faceted problems
• Have fun! No really. A big goal with these knowledge exchanges is to build relationships across campus and make friends with the folks that are gathered together