The conquest of a right
Latin American reflections on 70 years of free university education in Argentina
Author: Ernesto Villanueva.
Chapter authors: Graciela Giménez, Aritz Recalde, Daniela Atairo, Antonio Camou, Rui Vicente Oppermann, Judith Scott-Clayton, Rodrigo Arocena, Axel Didriksson Takayanagui, Freddy Javier Álvarez González, Julián Dércoli.
This book brings together reflections from a Latin American perspective, 70 years after the enactment of free university education in Argentina.
The three sections into which the book is organized propose distinct approaches to the topic: the first focuses on the Argentine experience from a historical perspective; the second addresses the experiences of different countries in Latin America and the United States from the perspectives of co-governance, financing and initiatives aimed at eliminating tuition fees; the third reflects on the meanings, limits and potential of free tuition within the framework of unequal societies.
Addressing the issue of free tuition does not mean—as Ernesto Villanueva argues—dealing with a legacy devoid of tensions and contradictions. Rather, its advocacy challenges the hegemonic historiographical narratives that focused on opposing the national-popular to the university and intellectual question, offering a more complex approach to the web of discourses that shape the struggles for the right to university education in our region.
"Our region has different and diverse experiences, but they share a mandate: the people must enter the university and it must be at the service of a national political project that has as its goal sovereign development with social inclusion."
From the prologue by Ernesto Villanueva
ISBN 978-987-722-466-5
CLACSO. National University of Quilmes. Arturo Jauretche National University.
Buenos Aires.
November 2019
