This open access book presents a collection of conversations with educators and activists from around the world, who are engaged with practicing and thinking about different forms of radical or alternative education for social change, and who are working in grassroots education spaces, beyond formal schooling and universities. This includes educators working in the areas of community, worker, indigenous, environmental, feminist, anti-colonial, agricultural, liberation, theatre and arts education in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. By bringing together these different perspectives, the book helps to broaden our thinking about what radical education could and should look like in the world today. The book includes an introductory overview of radical education and education in nonformal, community and grassroots contexts; as well as brief introductions to each conversation that introduces the speaker, their work, organization and context, and situates the speaker within a particular approach to radical education.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by University College London.
Mayssoun Sukarieh is Reader in Middle Eastern Studies at King’s College London, UK.Stuart Tannock is Associate Professor in Sociology of Education at UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK.
Introduction, Mayssoun Sukarieh (King’s College London, UK) and Stuart Tannock (University College London, UK)1. A Journey of Accompaniment: Francisco (Pancho) Argüelles (The Praxis Project, USA)2. Reimagining Theatre of the Oppressed: Julian Boal (Escola de Teatro Popular, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)3. Learning to be a Union Organizer: Jaz Brisack (Inside Organizer School, USA)4. Escaping Education: Gustavo Esteva (Universidad de la Tierra, Oaxaca, Mexico)5. Living Languages of Learning: Munir Fasheh (Tamer Institute for Community Education, Palestine)6. Declaration of Decolonizing Education: Manish Jain (Swaraj University, Udaipur, India)7. Learning from Elders in Social Movement Spaces: Alexia Leclercq (People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources, East Austin, USA)8. The Seed, the Spade and the Jail: Chukki Nanjundaswamy with Luca Montanari and Ram Shree (Amrita Bhoomi Learning Centre, Karnataka, India)9. Translating Feminist Theory to Everyday Experience: Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem and Daffne Valdés Vargas (Colectivo LASTESIS, Chile)10. Learning to Leave, Leaving to Learn: Kelly Teamey (Ecoversities Alliance, Hawaii, USA)11. Storytelling for Liberation: Coumba Touré (Invisible Giants and TrustAfrica, Dakar, Senegal)12. From People’s Education to Pedagogies of Possibility: Salim Vally (Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, Johannesburg, South Africa)13. Art, Education & Collectivity in a Time of Catastrophe: Dmitry Vilensky (The Chto Delat collective, Russia)14. Coming to Highlander: Susan Williams (Highlander Research and Education Center, Tennessee, USA)Conclusion, Mayssoun Sukarieh (King’s College London, UK) and Stuart Tannock (University College London, UK)
Radical Educators in Grassroots Contexts is a collection of engaging and inspiring interviews with radical educators who respond to the harsh economic, political, cultural and environmental conditions in the current neo-liberal context where fascism and global capitalism pose new threats to peoples and the earth. It illustrates how new meanings of radical education can be harnessed in alternative education initiatives to challenge oppressive structures as formal education largely serves the interests of dominant ideologies. Radical education is a critical intervention that invites us to continue reflecting on the way we learn and teach and to deepen our commitment to social change.