Interventions ontologiques et épistémologiques en enseignement supérieur pour la justice cognitive : étude de cas du réseau Ecoversities Alliance
type: CreativeWork
description: This Master’s thesis is grounded in the idea that, despite their positive contributions to society, dominant higher education institutions (HEIs) also generate and perpetuate certain forms of cognitive injustice by overvaluing some ways of being and knowing at the expense of others. To counter this trend, this research project explores alternative forms of higher education that aim to promote cognitive justice—that is, the active recognition and dialogical engagement of diverse ways of being and knowing (Visvanathan, 2006, 2009, 2016). Cognitive justice is at the heart of this project, as it is documented that it can lead to numerous social and environmental benefits that support and preserve multiple forms of life on Earth (de Sousa Santos, 2016, 2017; Leibowitz, 2017; Porto, 2019). More specifically, this research project consists of a case study conducted in partnership with the Ecoversities Alliance, a network comprising more than 260 alternative higher education initiatives around the world, known as “ecoversities.” The objective of the research is to describe how the Ecoversities Alliance and its member organizations (ecoversities) aim to promote cognitive justice. For this purpose, the conceptual framework draws on the concept of cognitive justice (de Sousa Santos, 2014, 2017; Visvanathan, 2006, 2009, 2016) as well as the TREE model (de Oliveira Andreotti et al., 2018; Mika et al., 2020), which helps analyse ontological, epistemological, and methodological interventions within educational projects. The study includes a documentary analysis of articles (n = 28) written by members (founders, learners, and educators) of the Alliance, as well as an empirical analysis involving interviews with founders or directors of ecoversities (n = 10). The findings and interpretation are presented through three articles. The first article outlines the ways of being and knowing valued within different ecoversities. Ontologically, it highlights their conceptions of reality, exi…
abstract: This Master’s thesis is grounded in the idea that, despite their positive contributions to society, dominant higher education institutions (HEIs) also generate and perpetuate certain forms of cognitive injustice by overvaluing some ways of being and knowing at the expense of others. To counter this trend, this research project explores alternative forms of higher education that aim to promote cognitive justice—that is, the active recognition and dialogical engagement of diverse ways of being and knowing (Visvanathan, 2006, 2009, 2016). Cognitive justice is at the heart of this project, as it is documented that it can lead to numerous social and environmental benefits that support and preserve multiple forms of life on Earth (de Sousa Santos, 2016, 2017; Leibowitz, 2017; Porto, 2019). More specifically, this research project consists of a case study conducted in partnership with the Ecoversities Alliance, a network comprising more than 260 alternative higher education initiatives around the world, known as “ecoversities.” The objective of the research is to describe how the Ecoversities Alliance and its member organizations (ecoversities) aim to promote cognitive justice. For this purpose, the conceptual framework draws on the concept of cognitive justice (de Sousa Santos, 2014, 2017; Visvanathan, 2006, 2009, 2016) as well as the TREE model (de Oliveira Andreotti et al., 2018; Mika et al., 2020), which helps analyse ontological, epistemological, and methodological interventions within educational projects. The study includes a documentary analysis of articles (n = 28) written by members (founders, learners, and educators) of the Alliance, as well as an empirical analysis involving interviews with founders or directors of ecoversities (n = 10). The findings and interpretation are presented through three articles. The first article outlines the ways of being and knowing valued within different ecoversities. Ontologically, it highlights their conceptions of reality, exi…
author: Moliner-Roy, Clément
language: fr
language: en
keywords: Enseignement supérieur, Justice cognitive, Ontologies, Épistémologies, Higher education, Cognitive justice, Écoversités, Savoirs
license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:07:53Z
provider: Université de Sherbrooke
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Université de Sherbrooke

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/11143/23147

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.71892/11143/982