The potential role of university community engagement (UCE) in social justice and sustainability transformation - the case of the University of Szeged (Hungary)

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to reflect on the role of social justice orientated university community engagement (UCE) (Hazelkorn, 2016a, 2016b) in contributing to social justice and environmental sustainability transformations. We build on the social justice perspective to UCE (Hazelkorn, 2016a, 2016b); the transformative approaches to social justice and sustainability (Hopwood et al., 2005); and UCE models that deal with the transformative potential of UCE partnerships (e.g. Himmelman, 2001) as theoretical frameworks. We apply autoethnography to reconstruct and critically reflect on the transformative potential of a social justice orientated UCE process that we as researcher-activists are a part of. We use the UCE initiatives of the Research Centre of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the University of Szeged (Hungary) as a case study to reflect on UCE in a Hungarian urban context in the city of Szeged (Hungary). We analyze how power relations (partnerships) function and change within UCE; how UCE is able (or not) to change existing power relations (empower the marginalized) within a specific urban social context; and how these changes in the social power of the marginalized might (or might not) contribute to transformative changes in relation to social justice and sustainability. We conclude that (1) it is difficult to establish transformative (equal) relations among academics and communities; (2) working with community representatives might lead to unknown, unexpected and contradictory UCE impacts; (3) transformative intentions and characteristics of UCE do not imply that transformative social impacts are actually realized; and (4) transformative relationships (as understood in UCE literature) do not necessarily lead to transformative social changes (as conceptualized in the literature on social justice and sustainability).