Chapter 12: Differentiating University Community Engagement: An African Tale in Civil Society – International Perspectives on University–Community Partnerships

Faculty members at public universities in different disciplines view civil society differently as they perform their function of creating partnerships with society. This chapter draws evidence from faculty members in public universities from one African country – Malawi. Drawing from Derrida’s (1978) concept of difference and West’s (1993) views of social theory, the chapter examines three approaches to community engagement (CE) with civil society. It concludes that the growing demands to attain difference in CE have resulted in oversupply of approaches that are often pitied against each other; hence, the hierarchies obscure the work CE is achieving.