Adult Education And Social Justice International Perspectives

This book investigates the ways in which the social purposes of adult education are (re)interpreted over time, and between the global south and global north. It brings together thirty-seven authors from fourteen countries with extensive experience as academics and/or practitioners in the field. The book is inspired by the work and life of Lalage Bown, a leading proponent of post-colonial and inclusive visions of education for all. Over her long life she worked tirelessly to promote access to basic and higher education for people of all ages and backgrounds: with a deep commitment to striving for greater equality for women. Following an Introduction, the book is structured around four main themes: Adult Education and Social Justice; Decolonisation, Post-Colonialism and Indigenous Knowledge; From Literacy to Lifelong Learning; and, Fostering Excellence, Policy Development and Supporting Future Generation of Adult Educators. The book concludes with reflections on Lalage Bown’s Enduring Legacy.

Universities and faculty members play a vital role in providing education that helps build a strong foundation for a society where people get equal opportunities for upward social mobility. This book addresses the role of education in overcoming poverty and oppression by imparting social justice education at the institution and community level.

This book promotes the development of nontraditional literacies in adult education, especially as these critical literacies relate to global citizenship, equity, and social justice. As this edited collection argues, a rapidly changing global environment and proliferation of new media technologies have greatly expanded the kinds of literacies that one requires in order to be an engaged global citizen. It is imperative for adult educators and learners to understand systems, organizations, and relationships that influence our lives as citizens of the world. By compiling a comprehensive list of foundational, sociocultural, technological and informational, psychosocial and environmental, and social justice literacies, this volume offers readers theoretical foundations, practical strategies, and additional resources.

This book demonstrates how processes of globalization (economic, cultural, socio-political) are creating new possibilities and inequities and are thereby creating corresponding roles for adult education and learning in the South (Africa, Asia, South America) that are embedded in multiple political, economic and cultural projects for social change.

Critical Theorist Carlos Alberto Torres offers a political sociology of adult learning and education, based on Critical Social Theory and the always inspiring work of Paulo Freire. Empirically grounded and theoretically sophisticated, this new book follows the footsteps of his classic book published in the early nineties The Politics of Nonformal Education in Latin America. Torres book offers comparative and international sociological analyses of adult learning and education, an area in which there is an obsession with ‘practice’ and an aversion to theory, with some notable and laudable exceptions, but which has the potential to provide avenues for social justice education in ways that no other systems and policies can. This book revitalizes social theory in education, and provides ample evidence of the power of adult learning and education, examining a variety of policy documents connected with the various adult education congresses promoted by the UNESCO, which are thoroughly scrutinized for what they bring to or omit from the policy agenda. In the context of new developments in adult learning and education, particularly the impact of multiple globalizations, neoliberalism, and the new role of international organizations in reconceptualizing lifelong learning, new evidence-based research, new narratives, and the vibrancy of social movements striving for a new and possible world, it is clear that new theoretical designs were needed making this is a must-read book.

This book holds two main concepts: citizenship and adult education, and presents a diverse scope of ideas and experiences from different countries and perspectives in a rich indication to edify liberating practices and researches.

The worldwide appearance and expression of adult education and lifelong learning have changed significantly during the past 20 years. This book explores recent changes in their related national and international policies, how they intersect with developments in higher education and how they may contribute to debates on citizenship and democracy.

Critical Education in International Perspective presents new perspectives on critical education from Latin America, Southern Europe and Africa. While recognising the valuable work in critical education emerging from North America and the Northern hemisphere, testimony to Paulo Freire's influence there, this book sheds light on parts of the world that are not given prominence. The book highlights the complementary work of Lorenzo Milani, Amilcar Cabral, exponents of Italian feminism, Ada Gobetti, the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, Antonio Gramsci, Gabriela Mistral and Julius Nyerere. It also focuses on a range of struggles such as education in the context of landlessness, independence, renewal and cognitive justice, social creation and against neoliberalism and decolonization.