From struggle knowledge and movement learning to the university classroom

Abstract

There is renewed interest in illuminating ways in which collective social struggles can be key sites of learning and knowledge production, analysis, tools for social change – and theory. While it should not be contentious for adult educators to acknowledge the various forms of significant learning that occur in such contexts, there has often been a disconnect between scholarly literature and the learning in the movement spaces which they theorize. This article draws from the author’s organizing and education work in social movements, activist groups and non-governmental organization (NGO) networks and from his research and teaching as an academic engaged with the dynamics, tensions and possibilities of learning in social and political activist contexts, critical adult education and social change. Further, in reflecting upon learning and knowledge in social movements, it discusses the place of such struggle knowledge in non-formal adult education/popular education milieus and university classrooms.