Abstract
This edited volume seeks to expand adult and continuing education’s engagement with international discourse around sustainable development and human rights. Working from the premise that “[i]mproving the sustainability of people and planet calls for all to partner, collaborate, and contribute to the UN agenda” (p. xxiv), Alfred et al. have assembled a collection highlighting the role the adult education field can play in furthering that agenda through research, curriculum, and partnerships that engage the needs of more vulnerable groups within the larger context of sustainability. The book is undergirded by clearly articulated commitments to the “ethical valence” (p. 8) of adult education and to the challenging task of bringing a global sustainability mindset into the local contexts of research and practice. It is both a hopeful and urgent call to action.
The book is organized into thematic sections exploring adult education in relation to human rights (Section 1), economic empowerment (Section 2), and environmental sustainability (Section 3). Chapter authors describe the need and relevance for their work with reference to the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing consistent framings around UN priorities across essays despite their diversity and occasional unevenness. Regions represented include North America, Africa, Northern Europe, Turkey, China, and North Korea; while a valuable contribution to the field’s literature, several important regions were noticeably absent.
Throughout the book, chapters offer varied (re)formulations of adult education’s transformative potential. In Chapter 1, for example, the authors argue for making human rights literacy education a cornerstone of adult education curricula as a means of driving students’ learning in the direction of social justice; in Chapter 2, a conceptual framework for leadership development intended to promote a disposition toward, and skill with, integrated global thinking is presented as a means of preparing future leaders to handle the complex interrelatedness of contemporary challenges. Other chapters bring us more directly into engagement with the pragmatic possibilities of an adult education oriented toward human rights and sustainability in local contexts. Chapter 8, for example, offers an intriguing exploration of the impact of illegal foreign popular culture on North Koreans’ conceptions of human rights, casting light on the often overlooked value of informal learning. Other chapters attend to the ways that adult education can support marginalized youth in Turkey (Chapter 10), aid student veterans transitioning into higher education in the U.S. (Chapter 14), or strengthen the hand of community education in the development of sustainable communities in Ghana (Chapter 12) and China (Chapter 15).
A concern for the agency of the adult learner is evident throughout the collection. For example, Chapter 4’s investigation of the perceptions of educators working with migrants in Germany is strongly animated by Adorno’s “educational focus on individual human dignity” (p. 52), with findings that point to the ways adult education can involve “the creation of a setting that fosters the autonomy and agency of a person” (p. 61). Chapter 9 explores the limitations of the “dueling dichotomy between humanism and human capital theory in adult education” and proposes the adoption instead of a “human capabilities approach” (p. 139) via Sen and Nussbaum, one that integrates humanistic and instrumental approaches to adult learning in ways that value dignity, justice, and sustainability.
The entire book emphasizes the importance of partnerships and reinforces the benefits that accrue from prioritizing community participation and attending to local knowledge. Chapter 13, for example, effectively highlights the relevance to health outcomes of incorporating local culture and beliefs into continuing medical education practices in contexts distinguished by “medical pluralism” (p. 208). Chapter 16 points to the value of informal STEM learning grounded in participatory processes that support citizens in developing solutions to local environmental challenges. And in Chapter 19, through the examination of online fishing-related discussion threads, the author offers a compelling argument for combining critical self-reflection with place-based learning and local sustainability discussions to combat the effects of settler colonialism and the persistence of environmental stereotypes impacting indigenous cultures.
This collection may be of particular interest to those re-considering how their local research and practice can align with global sustainability and human rights goals. It would make a worthy addition to courses exploring adult education in the context of globalization and/or social justice movements or courses wherein the contested purpose of adult education is being explored. Readers may want to select readings according to the relevance of the topic or research methodology highlighted; however, engaging the polyvocality across chapters may also offer useful preparation for compassionate and constructive participation within an internationalized adult education field.
