Assessing Grassroots Engineering Applications in Brazil

Abstract

I currently develop a post-doctorate research at the Aeronautics Technological Institute (ITA) with a scholarship from FAPESP (#2018/20563-3). I hold a PhD degree in Philosophy (University of São Paulo, 2017), a bachelor degree in Philosophy (Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, 2008), a master degree in Electrical Engineering (University of Campinas, 2002), and a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering (University of Campinas, 1999). My research area encompasses philosophy of technology and of engineering and engineering education. I am now studying grassroots engineering (GE) and social/solidarity technology (ST), as well as engineering education, focusing, on one hand, on the ethicalpolitical, aesthetics, and epistemic aspects that both characterize and make GE and ST possible, and, on the other hand, on the challenges the engineering education must face in order to train/develop the capabilities or skills engineers must possess so to be able of doing GE and producing ST. The work I currently develop at ITA is related to the conception and institutionalization of a minor in engaged engineering.

Brazilian Grassroots Engineer’s Education: Achievements, Flaws, and Challenges

“…These centers provide either short-or long-term technical assistance to grassroots groups, intending to be a place where the extension is practiced alongside research, with the one (extension/ research) learning from and teaching to the other. Examples of such centers are: Soltec, at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro [3]- [4], [25]- [28]; ITCP, at State University of Campinas [3], [29]- [31]; Pegadas, at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte [3], [32]; and Incop, at Federal University of Ouro Preto [33]- [35]. 1 As such, engaged engineering, as it is defined by Kleba [24], is a broader concept which encompasses GE as well as engineering practices such as social entrepreneurship, engineering for (social) development, and humanitarian engineering.…”

“…These centers, which turn out to be home to some of the leading GE teams in Brazil, currently tend to opt for long-term technical assistance (lasting for up to a couple of years) [25]- [27] and for supporting enterprises linked to social movements, rather than isolated initiatives [2]- [3], [31], (except for Incop). Enterprises assisted usually range from cooperatives of waste pickers [35], [36] and landless rural workers settlements camps [37] or fairs [35] to worker-recovered companies [37], support to social movements with ICT (information and communication technology) challenges [37], and solidarity economy in general [30], [31], [34], [35].…”

“…Enterprises assisted usually range from cooperatives of waste pickers [35], [36] and landless rural workers settlements camps [37] or fairs [35] to worker-recovered companies [37], support to social movements with ICT (information and communication technology) challenges [37], and solidarity economy in general [30], [31], [34], [35]. The technical assistance provided is usually associated with managing productive processes, ergonomics, building artifacts (that can be a material or non-material one, such as a computer program/app), and designing infrastructure [3]. Methodologically, it is employed action research, which is usually supplemented by a popular education process [3], [25]- [39].…”

“…It is a result of the conjugation of three different movements or traditions that were supported by Lula's administration with specific funding and public policy: solidarity economy; social technology (or solidarity technology [1]); and university extension (which also encompasses community engagement) [2]. Currently, GE is mostly being applied as community service practiced by teams of teachers and students that are usually linked to institutionalized and permanent university initiatives called "extension centers" [3]. In some cases, along with service learning, such initiatives also develop research, taking challenges posed by their support to grassroots groups as matters of academic investigation either on methodological or technical-theoretical ground [4].…”

“…It goes even beyond designing the desired solutions to incorporate (or in dialogue with) local group's values and worldviews as some traditions of design for values [6], such as participatory design [7] and value sensitive design [8], have been doing very well for decades now. GE, in addition to all these and by actively incorporating local groups' traditional or popular knowledge, aims to develop a popular education process [9] through which, during the design process, grassroots people can also enlarge their consciousness, empower themselves, and co-construct and try a different socio-technical reality [3]. Empowerment and disalienation (that is, overcoming alienation, enlarging consciousness) are the fundamentals for both dreaming about this "other possible world" (socially fairer, ecologically more sustainable, more democratic, where different good living ideals can bloom, etc.…”