Learning and Education for a Better World

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Historicising and Theorising, Movement Education and Learning

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. “We are Poor, not Stupid”

      • Anne Harley

      Pages 3-22

   3. Learning to Resist

      • Elisabeth Steinklammer

      Pages 23-39

   4. Social Learning in Environmental Justice Struggles

      • Eurig Scandrett

      Pages 41-55

   5. Reconnecting Intellect and Feeling

      • Jim Crowther, Emilio Lucio-Villegas

      Pages 57-68

   6. Forty Years of Popular Education in Latin America

      • Liam Kane

      Pages 69-83

3. Learning Through Cultural Struggle

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-85

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   2. Aesthetics, Society and Social Movement Learning

      • Darlene E. Clover

      Pages 87-99

   3. Composting the Imagination in Popular Education

      • Astrid von Kotze

      Pages 101-112

   4. Radical Aesthetics

      • Stephen Brookfield

      Pages 113-124

4. Changing the World

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125

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   2. ‘A Giant Human Hashtag’

      • Budd L. Hall

      Pages 127-139

   3. Building Counter-Power from the Ground up

      • Aziz Choudry

      Pages 141-153

   4. Inch by inch, Row by Row

      • Catherine Etmanski

      Pages 155-167

   5. Tweeting History

      • Mark Malone

      Pages 169-182

5. Back Matter

   Pages 183-188

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This is a book for activists, students, scholars of social movements and adult education and for the public interested in the contemporary movements of our times. From the streets of Barcelona and Athens, the public squares in Cairo, Tunis and Tripoli, the flash mobs and virtual learning of the #Occupy movement, and the shack dwellers of South Africa people around the world are organising themselves to take action against the ravages of a capitalism that serves the greedy while impoverishing the rest. Social movements have arisen or re-arisen in virtually every sector of human activity from concerns about the fate of our planet earth, to dignity for those living with HIV/AIDS, to feeding ourselves in healthier ways and survival in places of violent conflict. At the heart of each of these movements are activists and ordinary people learning how to change their lives and how to change the world. This book offers contemporary theoretical and practical insights into the learning that happens both within and outside of social movements. Social movement scholars present work linked to the arts, to organic farming, to environmental action, to grassroots activists in the Global South, to the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement, the shackdwellers movements, school reform and the role of Marx, Gramscii and Williams in understanding social movement learning. The greatest contribution of this inspiring book is to remind us that learning and education in social movements help to make a difference. Not only does this collection enable us to understand how we might theorise and historicise learning in diverse contemporary social movements, but its contributors do so with outspoken and passionate commitment to ‘Learning and Education for a Better World.’ - Professor Miriam Zukas, Executive Dean, Birkbeck, University of London The burning demand for such a text comes from our contemporary moment that is witness to a world where nearly everything is commercialised, marketised orcommodified. This text shuns an essentialist discourse while simultaneously and masterfully offering unprecedented insights into social movement learning and education. The book is numinous. - Professor Robert Hill, University of Georgia, USA This is a book we have all been waiting for. The editors have brought together an amazing cadre of international adult educators to probe the intersection of social movements and learning, and to build theory around the many social actions that are taking place globally. A must read for students and professors everywhere. - Leona English, PhD, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada Accessible, engaging, often inspirational, the essays that comprise Learning and Education for a Better World offer deep insights on the role of social movements as agencies of learning, struggle and transformation. From case studies that include the occupy movement, popular education in Latin America, political cinema and the Egyptian Revolution to reflections on resistance, aesthetics and the role of organic intellectuals, this collection will be of interest to educators, social scientists, humanists and activists alike. An interdisciplinary tour-de-force. - Professor William Carroll, University of Victoria, Canada This is such a timely collection of essays, bringing together critical reflections on experiences of social action from across the globe. This book is to be commended to the widest possible readership. - (From the Preface by) Emeritus Professor Marjorie Mayo, Goldsmith’s College

• adult education
• social movements

• University of Victoria, Canada

  Budd L. Hall, Darlene E. Clover

• The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

  Jim Crowther

• Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

  Eurig Scandrett

Policies and ethics