An Antiracist Feminist Analysis for the Study of Learning in Social Struggle

Gouin, Rachel

doi:10.1177/0741713608327370

Cited by 33 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The PPU programme came out of the life experiences of the poor who were there. Meek (2011, p. 168) has identified how scholars are increasingly looking at the experiential learning that occurs in everyday contexts, such as discussion groups and political demonstrations, to explore how movements integrate cultural and political ideals in an educational setting (Holst 2002;Gouin, 2009). In addition to the PPU and Freedom School activities, demonstrations took place every day at executive agency buildings especially the Department of Agriculture, the Supreme Court, the White House and other symbolic landmarks.…”

Section: Challenging Dominant Narratives About the Causes Of Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

«An idea unleashed in history»: Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the campaign to end poverty in America

Hamilton

2018

ETE

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Abstract:As well as being a civil rights advocate, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr consistently called for human rights for all. He opposed poverty, racism, imperialism and political disfranchisement as part of an analysis, which viewed inequality not only in American but also in global terms. In order to address poverty and related human rights issues, King proposed a Poor People's Campaign (PPC). In May 1968, only weeks after King's assassination, the PPC saw thousands of poor people travel to Washington DC to protest against poverty. The demonstrators occupied sacred space in the nation's capital by building a temporary community, known as Resurrection City. During preparations for the PPC and in Washington, the activists drew on a rich legacy of adult education from previous civil rights campaigns. The approaches adopted by PPC participants were innovative and represented alternatives to conventional educational practices. These included Freedom Schools, a Poor People's University, workshops, marches and demonstrations, which assisted the protesters to come together in coalition to challenge dominant hegemonic narratives concerning the causes, nature and scope of poverty. Although ultimately unsuccessful in its aspiration to end economic injustice in America, the PPC undoubtedly laid the seeds for future anti-poverty activism. The article draws on primary source documents and oral testimonies from five archives.

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Section: Challenging Dominant Narratives About the Causes Of Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

«An idea unleashed in history»: Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the campaign to end poverty in America

Hamilton

2018

ETE

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“…There has been a growing interest in the forms of learning within social movements in recent years (e.g., Foley, 1999;Gouin, 2009;Hall and Clover, 2005;Hall et al, 2012;Overwein, 2000). Foley (1999) has specifically merged social movement learning theory with class-struggle approaches.…”

Section: Informal Social Action and Workplace Learning "In Struggle"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning in Struggle: Argentina’s New Worker Cooperatives as Transformative Learning Organizations

Vieta

2014

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This article considers Argentina’s empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores (worker-recuperated enterprises, or ERTs) as transformative learning organizations. ERTs are illustrative of how workers’ conversions of capitalist firms into worker cooperatives—especially conversions emerging from troubled firms and in moments of deep socio-economic crises—transform workers (from managed employees to self-managed workers), work organizations (from capitalist businesses to labour-managed firms), and communities (from depleted to revitalized and self-provisioning localities).Theoretically, the study is grounded in class-struggle, workplace learning, and social action learning approaches. These theoretical perspectives help the study work through how workplace conversions by workers, when converting troubled investor-owned or proprietary firms into worker coops, act as catalysts for contesting workplace exploitation and capitalist crises, while also beginning to move beyond them by forging new social relations of production and exchange. In the case of Argentina’s ERTs, crises in the political economy and micro-economic crises at the point of production during the collapse of the neoliberal model at the turn of the millennium heightened workers’ self-awareness of their situations of exploitation and motivated collective action. As a result, new worker cooperatives were created that also stimulated the social, cultural, and economic renewal of surrounding communities.The study’s research method relies on extended case studies of four diverse ERTs, which included ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews. Observations of daily workflows were conducted, as well as interviews and informal conversations with founding and newer ERT workers. In a more structured portion of the interview protocol, key-informants were asked to reflect on how they had personally changed after being involved in the ERT, and how production practices and involvement with the community had transformed in the process of conversion.The article concludes by outlining how worker, organizational, and community transformations emerge from workers’ processes of informal learning and learning in struggle as they collectively strive to overcome macro- and micro-economic crises and learn to become cooperators. This learning, the study shows, occurs in two ways: intra-cooperatively via informal workplace learning, and inter-cooperatively between workers from different ERTs and with surrounding communities. The self-management forged by ERTs thus embodies new, cooperative, and community-centered values and practices for these workers that, in turn, sketch out different possibilities for economic and productive life in Argentina.Cet article présente les empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores en Argentine (entreprises rachetées par des travailleuses et des travailleurs ou ERT), comme des organisations d’apprentissage transformatrise. Les ERT illustrent bien comment des entreprises capitalistes converties en coopératives – particulièrement dans les cas de c...

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“…This approach on learning has been used to analyse various forms of activism (e.g. Gouin 2009;Hall 2009;Choudry 2009;Ollis 2011), highlighting certain aspects of processes of individual and collective change that can be extremely relevant in understanding relationships in international cooperation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Informal Learning for Citizenship Building in Shared Struggles for Rights: Cases of Political Solidarity Between Colombian and Spanish Organisations

2015

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Dominant discourses and practices in international cooperation have been characterised by depoliticisation and unequal power relationships. However, a number of more transformative experiences of cooperation also exist, where joint work between Northern and Southern social organisations is linked with a more political perspective. These kinds of experiences can be considered processes of informal learning in social action: through shared actions, strategies and frameworks and through interaction between organisations, institutions and the grassroots, informal and multidimensional learning processes occur in the people and organisations engaged. The study approaches four cases of networks that have linked Spanish and Colombian organisations which promote advocacy and social mobilisation for the defence of human rights in Colombia. The results show that people engaged in the cases experience intense learning processes that are relevant for the construction of solidarities and a radical global citizenship, but that these processes are also replete with limitations, tensions and challenges.Résumé Les discours dominants et les pratiques dans le domaine de coopération internationale ont été caractérisés par la dépolitisation et des rapports de force inégaux. Toutefois, un certain nombre d'expériences de coopération plus transformatrices existent également, au cours desquelles un travail commun entre les organisations sociales du Nord et du Sud est associé à un point de vue plus politique. Ces expériences peuvent être considérées comme des processus informels d'apprentissage en action sociale: grâce à des actions, des stratégies et des cadres communs et grâce à l'interaction entre les organisations, les institutions et les populations locales, des processus d'apprentissage informels et multidimensionnels apparaissent parmi les personnes et les organisations engagées. Cette étude aborde quatre exemples de réseaux qui ont associé des organisations espagnoles et colombiennes promouvant la sensibilisation et la mobilisation sociale pour la défense des droits de l'homme en Colombie. Les résultats montrent que les personnes engagées dans ces exemples connaissent des processus d'apprentissage intenses pertinents pour la construction de solidarités et d'une citoyenneté mondiale radicale, mais aussi que ces processus sont remplis de limites, de tensions et de défis.Zusammenfassung Die vorherrschenden Diskussionen und Praktiken in der internationalen Zusammenarbeit zeichnen sich seit einiger Zeit durch eine Entpolitisierung und ungleiche Machtbeziehungen aus. Allerdings gibt es auch eine Reihe von transformativeren Erfahrungen bei der Zusammenarbeit, wo die Kooperation zwischen nördlichen und südlichen sozialen Organisationen mit einer politischeren Perspektive in Verbindung steht. Solche Erfahrungen können als Prozesse informalen Lernens im Rahmen sozialen Handelns betrachtet werden: Gemeinsames Handeln, gemeinsame Strategien und Systeme sowie die Wechselbeziehung zwischen Organisationen, Institutionen und Basisbewegungen führen...

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An Antiracist Feminist Analysis for the Study of Learning in Social Struggle

Cited by 33 publications

References 19 publications

«An idea unleashed in history»: Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the campaign to end poverty in America

«An idea unleashed in history»: Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the campaign to end poverty in America

Learning in Struggle: Argentina’s New Worker Cooperatives as Transformative Learning Organizations

Informal Learning for Citizenship Building in Shared Struggles for Rights: Cases of Political Solidarity Between Colombian and Spanish Organisations

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