Complexity, Adult Biographies and Co-operative Transformation

Profession Reimagined

“…How can an auto/biographical approach be used in a group setting to bring about more holistic and complex ways of knowing for professionals in education? To answer my question, I implemented an auto/biographically oriented co-operative inquiry (Formenti, 2018;Heron, 1996) with two groups of professionals, in Milan and Canterbury. A colleague and I facilitated them in telling stories of knowing and becoming a professional, building explicit and implicit theories of education, and discussing their relationship to knowing.…”

“…The sessions involved writing, reading and discussing about life events, in constant movement between individual and group, triggering reflection and reflexivity (Formenti, 2018). The process proved messier than intended: letting go of a controlling stance was a struggle with many dilemmas and a learning path for me, as researcher.…”

A Philosophical Embodied Practice: Meditation in the European–Italian Adult Education Context

“…Most report afterward that they have a new feeling of the place. This is an embodied way to re‐enchant academy (Formenti & Luraschi, ), or any rigid context.…”

“…Following Gregory Bateson's work (, ), and as I have discussed elsewhere (Formenti, ), a basic premise of this chapter is that adult development and learning are complex processes—embodied, embedded, and entangled—weaving different dimensions beyond the single, separated self. Togetherness and interconnectedness are fundamental biological dimensions of human life, necessary for our survival and flourishing.…”

Migration, culture contact and the complexity of coexistence

“…We are inspired by complexity theory (Formenti, 2016(Formenti, , 2018Glasersfeld, 1995;Morin, 2015) as a source of metaphors and imagination that challenges the dominant linear vocabulary. When complex phenomena are simplified for the sake of understanding and control, we can expect ecologic and social disasters (Bateson, 1972).…”