Connolly, Brid and Hussey, Peter
(2013)
The War against People: Adult education practice for
critical democracy.
The Adult Learner, 1.
pp. 76-89.
ISSN 0790-8040
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to explore the role of adult education for critical democracy, in order to address the social suffering (Bourdieu, 1999) that
we encounter in our work as critical adult community educators. We explore
this through dialogue, as a process of education and research. Dialogue is the
moment where humans meet to reflect on their reality as they make and remake
it (Shor, Freire, 1987: 13). The purpose of dialogue is to transform social relations, in the learning environment and in our community of practice, a key way
of creating new knowledge. Also, we contend that dialogue is a process of joint
autoethnographic research that examines experience, in order to understand
cultural practices, (Ellis,
et al
, 2011). Further, congruent with our pedagogies,
autoethnography treats research as a political, socially-just and socially-conscious act (Adams and Holman Jones, 2008). This article developed out of dialogue that we have had for years, but which we formalised only recently. We
consider dialogue as a pivot, based on Freire’s contention that education is a
conversation rather than a curriculum (1972). Further, our dialogue is underpinned by reflexivity, particularly using ourselves in research and practice
(Etherington, 2004). Reflexivity remains in the domain of the academic if we
are not mindful that our purpose is to change the world, echoing Marx and
Engles’ thesis that:
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is,
however, to change it,.
(Thesis 11, 1845)
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
War against People; Adult education practice; critical democracy; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education |
| Item ID: |
4778 |
| Depositing User: |
Brid Connolly
|
| Date Deposited: |
24 Feb 2014 12:02 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
The Adult Learner |
| Publisher: |
AONTAS or the Adult Education Officers’ Association |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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