Full Description
Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of being in the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the natural world; our understanding of relations of power in interlocking structures of class, race and gender; our body awarenesses; our visions of alternative approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for social justice and peace and personal joy. The editors of this collection make several challenges to the existing field of transformative learning - the first is to theoreticians, who have attempted to describe the nature of transformative learning without regard to the content of transformative learning. The editors argue that transformative learning theory cannot be constructed in a content-neutral or context-free way. Their second challenge, which assumes the importance content for transformative learning, is to educators as practitioners. The editors argue that transformative learning requires new educational practices consistent with the content. Arts-based research and arts-based teaching/learning practices are one example of such new educational practices. Education for the soul, or spiritual practices such as meditation or modified martial arts or indigenous peoples' forms of teaching/learning, is another example. Each article in the collection presents a possible model of these new practices.
Contents
Introduction; E.O'Sullivan, A.Morrell & M.A.O'Connor Toward a People's Journalism: Our Stories, Our Perspectives and Our Future; P.Boin Towards Transformative Learning: Ecological Perspectives for Adult Education; D.Clover The Labyrinth: Site and Symbol of Transformation; V.Compton The Right to a New Utopia: Adult Learning and the Changing World of Work in an Era of Global Capitalism; B.Hall The Culture of Peace; A.Goodman Situating Spirituality in the Agenda for Transformative Learning' G.J.Sefa Dei Transforming Research: Possibilities for Art-Informed Research?; J.G.Knowles & A.Cole What is Curriculum Anyway?; M.Maxwell Transformative Learning and the Tao of History: Spirituality in the Postindustrial Revolution; B.Milani Learning From a Spiritual Perspective; J.Miller Experiences in Radical Pedagogy of Race and Gender; S.Mojab Traces of the Forgotten: Photographic Ambiguity and Critical Histories; A.Morrell Exploring Healing and the Body Through Chinese Medicine: Notes on Pedagogy and Embodiment; R.Ng The Integrative Power of Fiction as Research: New Paradigms for Scholarship in Transformative Learning; M.A.O'Connor Transforming the Ecology of Violence; E.O'Neill & E.O'Sullivan The Transformative Power of Creative Dissent: The Raging Grannies Legacy; C.Roy Bringing Latin American Traditions of Transformative Learning to the North; D.Schugurensky Journey of Our Spirits: Challenges for Adult Indigenous Learners; R.Shilling The Signature of the Whole: Radical Interconnectedness in Education; D.Selby African Women, the Land, the Universe and Creation: A Spiritual Connection; N.Wane Conclusion
