Reformers, Activists, Intellectuals, and the Circulation of Knowledge
Studies in Social, Cultural, and Popular Educational Movements in Europe, 1815–1973
Barry J Hake editor Kirsi Ahonen editor Christian Stifter editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Peter Lang AG
Published:15th May '25
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Civil society movements were key actors in disseminating knowledge, skills, and values to empower groups and individuals in interpreting and sharing their experiences of class, religion, gender, region, race, language, citizenship, and nationality during the differential modernisation of European societies. This volume explores the historical variations in the relationships between organised adult learning, collective and individual emancipation, and social movements in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. The diverse manifestations of collectively organised adult learning were characterised by institutionalised ‘formal’ instruction, non-formal ‘mutual learning’ and informal schemes of ‘self-organised learning’.
The contributions collected here exemplarily span a broad field of diverse historical developments on a national and transnational European level including nationalist movements, and 'völkisch'-national-socialist manifestations.
Die Qualität der Texte und der Konnex zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart unterstützen das Plädoyer der Forschenden, ein „European Research Network“ weiterhin zu fördern und zu fordern. Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zu erarbeiten und sie zu kommunizieren, bedürfen eben einer tragfähigen Organisationsform. […] In der Erwachsenenbildung eignet sich das Buch für die Bereiche Politik, Gesellschaft, Kultur und für die Professionalisierung. In wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken sollte es nicht fehlen. (Werner Lenz, Die Österreichische Volkshochschule, 02-2025, Nr. 285, S. 76–77)
Ultimately, «Reformers, Activists, Intellectuals, and the Circulation of Knowledge» is an important and rigorously argued contribution to the history of adult education in Europe. Its scholarship is anchored, its conceptual framing is strong without being doctrinaire, and its ethical seriousness—especially its willingness to engage the darker pedagogies of nationalism and exclusion—makes it a book that the field needs. It should be read not only by historians of adult education, but by anyone who wishes to understand adult learning as a force that can democratise, discipline, emancipate, domesticate, radicalise, or regress—depending on the social relations in which it is organised. (George K. Zarifis, in: Studies in the Education of Adults, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2026.2652688)
ISBN: 9783631915660
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 299g
164 pages
New edition