Andragoška spoznanja, 2018, 24(1), 3-17
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4312/as.24.1.3-17 Editorial
EDITORIAL
ADULT LEARNING  
IN A WORLD ON THE MOVE
The papers in this special issue of Studies in Adult Education and Learning carry us 
back to some of the moments of discussion and debate that participants at the 9th ESREA 
Conference of the Network Between Global and Local: Adult Learning and Communities 
(BGL-ALC) at the University of Lower Silesia (ULS) in Wrocław, Poland in May 2017 
generated around the conference theme Adult learning & communities in a world on the 
move: between national tensions and transnational challenges. 
In the course of the months previous to the 2017 conference and since we have witnessed 
unparalleled waves of migration across Europe, waves of refugees moving through coun-
tries and crossing borders on a scale unseen in Europe since 1945. Over a million refugees 
and displaced people crossed EU borders in 2015 alone. According to UNHCR figures, in 
2018 there are 65 million displaced persons worldwide, 22.5 million refugees under UN 
mandate, and of the three main countries of origin (South Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria) 
Syria alone counts for 5.5 million refugees…
The BGL-ALC Network decided to turn its attention to adult learning and communities 
in this world ‘on the move’ and sought to address in discussion possible responses to the 
national tensions and transnational challenges we observe and experience in our work. 
The ‘local’ emergencies, the destruction of civil societies (Syria, Yemen, Ukraine), the 
bombing of Syrian cities by the Russian, US and in the meantime the Turkish air forces, 
become ‘global’ experiences in the rafts we see sinking off the coast of Lampedusa, the 
still overfilled ‘jungle’ camps at Calais, on Lesbos, or in cities all across the Balkans. 
And these global shocks become again ‘local’ emergencies, local chances, too, as they 
begin to involve the civil societies each migration wave and each political shock suc-
cessively reaches.
Responses in civil society have shown the great creativity and the energy that solidarity 
and the idea of civil social justice, twinned with education, can engender. Countless ini-
tiatives sprang up to provide a welcome where state institutions responded tardily, the en-
ergies of thousands of volunteers, teachers, guides, mentors and employers galvanised the 
response of action groups and local communities to develop new forms of solidarity and 
apply in practice basic democratic citizenship. This response is timely, as we have wit-
nessed contradictory reactions across Europe and beyond from civil and ‘uncivil society’, 
4 ANDRAGOŠKA SPOZNANJA 1/2018
new forms of political turbulence and global dis-order which are putting in question most 
of the institutions and practices we have perhaps taken too long for granted. 
OUR NETWORK AND A WORLD ON THE MOVE
In the research fields and methodological perspectives of the BGL-ALC Network, the 
first thing that can be stressed is diversity, which is wholly coherent with the diversi-
ty we face when talking about communities. Diverse communities, we argue, include 
within themselves all the diversity of the people living in them. Community is a place 
where conflict and confrontation are the usual thing, and conflict and the way conflict 
is resolved are substantial elements in the definition of community as a symbolic place. 
Thus, in our discussions we have reflected on the concept of community and the different 
roles that it can play in people’s daily lives, either as a place of shelter or as a place of 
confrontation and debate.
Community is also a place in which to join people. It is a public place where everyday life is 
developed. In this sense, it can be affirmed that community is a place to learn; a good place 
to learn about democracy and participation, and a place that is a source for learning and 
teaching. Community is a place where people create knowledge about themselves, allowing 
them to transform the community further and improve the life of the people living in it. 
The creation of knowledge is an important step to researching and transforming com-
munities, but this creation of knowledge can be done in an alternative way (as participa-
tory research, for example, does) and can produce an alternative knowledge: a liberating 
knowledge that allows people to understand and transform the surrounding environment 
and that helps people to understand the world.
Social movements, as well, are spaces of adult learning and development. Social move-
ments can be creators of solidarity and of shared responsibilities. Communities are based 
on the solidarity among their members, but also on solidarity with other people outside 
the community. This important move from ‘I’ to ‘we’, in the context of the waves of 
migration and displacement, chauvinism and xenophobia we are experiencing today, is 
discussed in our network and is a central element of the papers published here.
In short, we conclude that the most important task is to reflect on social change in a 
context of migration and flight, the ongoing struggle for social justice, for peace and 
the right to a decent life in safety, dignity and equality: to reflect on, and to combat, the 
temptations of demagogy and chauvinism in a time of increasing disorder, and to reflect 
on the way adult learning can help people to confront these changes in a participatory and 
democratic way. 
THE PAPERS
The five papers included in this special issue of AP have been chosen for the contributions 
they make to theories of learning in a world on the move. They all ask how adequate our 
5Rob Evans, Ewa Kurantowicz: Adult learning in a world on the move
notions of lifelong learning, international adult education and adult learning programmes 
are and what the contribution of our research in this field is, should be and can become. 
They all in their different ways ask how we can build better dialogue and connectivity be-
tween diverse people in situations where opportunities for dialogue are being challenged, 
when in our cities and regions the ‘other’ is frequently experienced as a threat rather than 
a source of solidarity, learning and enrichment. They propose alternative perspectives on 
adult learning and discourses of power, on difference and ‘identity’, and new forms of 
solidarity that further social learning and the creation of democratic forms of citizenship 
and living together.
Adult learning and the work of social movements, local initiatives, and the responses of 
state agencies is another important area of debate addressed here. These papers ask how 
our research responds to current definitions of ‘sovereignty’ within the nation state, and 
to the takeover of the notion of ‘identity’, seen for many today as the fixed attribute of 
nations/ethnic groups, and formulated as an antithesis to difference and diversity. These 
and any other themes which address the relationship between adult education and com-
munities, and the role of local actors, whether individual or institutional, and transnation-
al movements confronting the challenges posed by thousands of people on the move are 
the stuff of this special issue.
Jim Crowther, of the University of Edinburgh, with his paper entitled ‘The contradic-
tions of populism: reasserting adult education for democracy’, opens the discussion 
by challenging common assumptions among educationalists regarding the democratic 
legitimation of populist protest. While recognizing that expressions of popular anger at 
‘the establishment’ and the ‘political elite’ are often problematic, Crowther neverthe-
less considers it essential to ‘recognise the legitimate democratic aspirations of people 
who have been victims of globalisation and ignored by liberal democracy.’ He argues 
that we must look for ways to conjugate these expressions of anger and frustration that 
easily lead to the search for a ‘strong’ Trump or Le Pen-type leader figure with adult 
education as a resource for deepening democracy rather than simply dismissing and 
condemning popular reactions as unwarranted and small-minded. Drawing on the work 
of Gramsci, Laclau and Mouffe, Crowther argues that we can use the creative force of 
dissent to turn the crises of democracy and adult education to use in generating produc-
tive synergies which adult educators need to develop. Reasserting adult education for 
democracy creates an opportunity to reinvigorate adult education and to reinvigorate 
democracy. Crowther supports his argument by examining developments during the 
Scottish Brexit debate. The discussions around such notions as sovereignty, ‘patriotism’ 
and community identity and the numerous forms of popular action that were created in 
order to carry forward an open, democratic debate illustrate in his view the impetus for 
new forms of political learning and education which adult education needs to engage 
with. Adult education, globally and in the Scottish context Crowther discusses, is in 
serious danger of remaining isolated from social struggles by being kidnapped by dom-
inant policy agendas which have little to do with democracy, social justice, equality or 
6 ANDRAGOŠKA SPOZNANJA 1/2018
freedom. Adult education, Crowther insists, must connect once more to its historical 
roots of being an ally for enhancing democratic life, and must go beyond the limits of 
liberal democratic versions of democracy.
Adult education has to be involved in history if it is to save its own soul. Its historic role 
is in promoting an expansive and inclusive democracy which can contribute in turn to the 
revitalisation of adult education. 
Sylwia Słowińska’s paper ‘Bottom-up cultural initiatives in local communities – between 
retreat and social engagement’ looks at the ways in which the creators and organisers of 
bottom-up cultural initiatives in local contexts shape relationships with the local commu-
nity. She presents five ways of shaping relations with the local community. These can, 
the author argues, be located on a continuum between two poles: retreat (distance from 
the community) and engagement in its affairs. The findings of her research suggest three 
models of bottom-up cultural initiatives: enclave, niche and platform initiatives. The sug-
gestion is that all three types of bottom-up cultural initiatives clearly provide opportuni-
ties for learning in local communities, but ‘platforms’ – activities open to collaboration 
and community participation – are more likely to create a space for education which is 
strictly connected with the needs and problems of the local community.
This research on bottom-up cultural initiatives was carried out in 2012, in western Po-
land employing in-depth interviews and observation. Słowińska’s data covers 16 cultural 
initiatives, carried out respectively in villages, small towns, and in cities. Polish society 
is understood by Słowińska as ‘liminal’, as a society in which patterns and social norms 
coexist that are characteristic of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ orders. As with other societies 
where the pace of change was or is very fast over a relatively brief period of time, the 
resulting ‘hybrid’ character of social and cultural reproduction is of enormous relevance 
for the development of citizenship and democratic community education. Research into 
bottom-up cultural initiatives is of special interest in times of increasing social non-com-
mitment, of withdrawal into the private sphere and a weakening of the idea of citizenship. 
The construction of a democratic civil society in Poland, Słowińska writes, is an arduous 
affair and she notes the weakness and fragility of civil society, and emphasises the impor-
tance of initiatives that can couple community participation with adult learning chances. 
Emilio Lucio-Villegas, in ‘The river and the people. An approach to memories, craft and 
adult education’, presents work in progress on people and their traditional crafts, their 
work and lives on the banks of the river Guadalquivir in Spain – simply called the ‘River’ 
at the centre of this piece of research – and argues for the recovery of the memory of the 
community and of the craft memory, both threatened by the forces of globalisation with 
their accompanying features of labour migration, redefinition/destruction of professions 
and labour patterns, education for qualification, economic peripherisation, and so on. 
In this paper Lucio-Villegas’ interest is turned towards the human, symbolic and geo-
graphical territory on the banks of the River. Recovering the integrity of the lived tra-
ditions and continuing practices of this territory can be a generator of experience and 
7Rob Evans, Ewa Kurantowicz: Adult learning in a world on the move
learning, the author argues. Experience is related to individual and community identity 
as an element which enables people in the community to understand and communicate 
the way they establish relationships amongst themselves and with their environment. In 
these first results of his research on the River, Lucio-Villegas discusses the crafts asso-
ciated with the River; the use of the River to transport goods and people; the family ties 
associated with the craft; the increased mobility of the people of the River as an effect of 
globalisation/cosmopolitanism and the changes derived from it. A notable role in the life 
of the River, he shows, is played by the women of the River community and by elements 
of magic and mystery handed down over years of work and life on its banks. Lucio-Ville-
gas indicates the importance of recovering traditional crafts as a source of adult education 
and for the maintenance of a cultural identity threatened by globalisation processes. By 
re-discovering, recovering and maintaining these traditional crafts it may, he suggests, be 
possible to enhance traditional knowledge and the resources of community. This kind of 
adult learning is clearly opposed to lifelong learning policy-making that is only focused 
on the individual as a worker or a future worker without memory or history. Lucio-Vil-
legas’ paper finishes with a clear challenge: to react against policies that dehumanise 
people, with Freire, we have to reconstruct local cultural identities that allow people to 
become protagonists of their life-world and their community life.
Marta Gregorčič, of the University of Ljubljana takes up this argument in a paper that 
sets out to challenge not only the threats to the life-world and knowledge of people in 
their communities, but also explicitly takes issue with the bias in ‘Western’ mainstream 
social science in general, and in the research of our own networks, in particular. Thus, 
in ‘Silenced epistemologies: the power of testimonies and critical auto/biographies for 
contemporary education’, Gregorčič asks whether the narrators of witness accounts or 
of critical auto/biographies can also be recognised as (co-)authors of scientific or literary 
written records. Reflecting in this paper on her own biographical research with revo-
lutionary movements of the Global South as well as oppressed and silenced groups in 
different continents, the author has identified characteristics of testimonies which she has 
positioned in relation to Santos’ Epistemologies of the South. Using prominent examples 
of literary written records which have empowered social emancipation she shows how the 
pedagogy of testimonies can be used innovatively for learning and research, and also how 
testimonies can make a fruitful contribution to a much-needed consideration of what she 
terms ‘silenced epistemologies in the classroom and in society’.
Witnesses of social injustice, of human rights’ abuse and war are often not merely sour-
ces of information, but are as well the bearers of ‘specific’ expertise, knowledge, and 
sometimes even epistemology, the author claims, indicating ways of coming to an al-
ternative scientific understanding of the world. In the same way, following Stanley and 
feminist research methodology, witness accounts and autobiographies cannot be anything 
but inter-textual, discourse-responsive, and inter-subjective. The question of a research 
subject’s authorship and co-authorship of new epistemology, or at least a part of an episte-
mology, has not been theoretically explicity addressed. However, sociologists, educators, 
8 ANDRAGOŠKA SPOZNANJA 1/2018
journalists, and others have already introduced this idea, and had witnesses recorded into 
or directly sign the scientific and/or literary work.
Gregorčič’s argument is trenchant and some may find it one-sided. Many researchers – 
particularly those coming from the area of auto/biographical research will respond that 
they have been practising the recovery of silenced epistemologies in the ‘ghetto class-
rooms’, institutions, the family, in communities of native populations, at least since the 
work of hooks, Rockhill, Steedman, Lather, to mention but a few who come to mind. Her 
trenchancy, however, is both justified and salutary, we feel. The dilemma of language and 
the ‘right to speak’ makes itself felt often enough in the most comfortable of research 
communities, and the epistemologies that clothe themselves exclusively in ‘Western’ 
 Anglo-Saxon formats – see the citation indexes that rule our academic lives and our work 
– and prioritise forms of English writing and discourse must be challenged, by us, and 
Gregorčič makes here a valuable start.
‘“Rewriting sociality” – sociographicity as a concept for comprehending emancipatory 
practice and social change’ is the title of the last paper by Angela Pilch-Ortega of the 
University of Graz. This final contribution challenges, too, notions of learning that are 
normally focused on the learning individual and learning for profit, for self-interest, for 
individual self-actualisation. Pilch-Ortega writes that in a world on the move, questions of 
democratisation, solidarity, dignity, equitable distribution of resources, opportunities for 
life and learning are becoming increasingly important and evermore urgent. In this con-
text, she writes, social problems in societies due to dramatic changes and grave social dis-
parities are not only seen as individual problems but are also framed as supra-individual 
challenges which call for the creation of collective modes of coping and learning. Given 
the generally accepted view that social movements can have an emancipatory and innova-
tive potential for societies and social change processes, she focuses in her paper on ‘civil 
learning’, emancipatory practices and processes of social change. Pilch-Ortega wishes 
to theorise learning processes which are layered on a supra-individual level and which 
are related to communities and societies. To do this, she explores the social world as a 
relational sphere that arises between social actors and the interplay between individual 
and collective modes of learning. Her argument is that our research frequently overlooks 
the relevance of collective modes of learning for social change processes, and that civil 
spheres and new learning environments offer opportunities for a learning society. Equally, 
she finds that much theoretical work neglects the relevancy of intersubjectivity and over-
emphasises either the structural or the individual perspective in the processes of sociation. 
Pilch-Ortega points out that as members of societies we have to deal with the doxic as-
sumptions and pre-reflexive knowledge with which we navigate through our daily lives, 
in the process reproducing the status quo of social regimes. There are in this coping 
nevertheless important opportunities for breaking the circle of reproduction and for creat-
ing moments of critical reflection, which may lead to emancipatory practices and social 
protest. Here the author introduces the term ‘sociographicity’ as a draft concept which 
tries to map such processes of ‘rewriting sociality’. By interacting with others we create 
9Rob Evans, Ewa Kurantowicz: Adult learning in a world on the move
the social world which arises between us. As, to a large extent, social relationship regimes 
are reproduced by implicit knowledge structures, by our ‘re-writing of sociality’ we can 
transform figuration patterns through critical reflections on a shared world. Pilch-Ortega 
argues that the practice of rewriting sociality should best be conceived as an ongoing 
process which is relational, interdependent and contextualised. This has consequences, 
she writes, for the question of how to theorise emancipatory practices and agency in order 
to (a) prevent the continual reproduction of Eurocentric perspectives on emancipation, 
(b) counter tendencies to overemphasise agency as an individual phenomenon, and (c) 
rethink the collective as a figurational structure which is constantly progressing.
With this eloquent paper, grounded in an existing body of research and pushing forward 
the boundaries of our research thinking and practice, we close this selection of papers. 
All five in very real ways offer a photograph of the state of our discussions at present. 
All of them, too, throw up important, imperative challenges to our field of work. The 
common theme is the search for learning perspectives in a world on the move that are 
focused on new, open, shared, learning opportunities which are embedded in communi-
ty and group learning for social change. The challenge to certain global pressures, the 
challenge, too, to Western-centred perspectives can be clearly heard in these papers. 
May the discussion be good.
Rob Evans and Ewa Kurantowicz 

Andragoška spoznanja, 2018, 24(1), 3-17
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4312/as.24.1.3-17 Uvodnik
UVODNIK
IZOBRAŽEVANJE ODRASLIH  
V SVETU V GIBANJU
Članki v tej tematski številki Andragoških spoznanj nas vračajo v trenutke kresanja mnenj 
med udeleženci 9. konference ESREA Network Between Global and Local: Adult Lear-
ning and Communities (BGL-ALC) na Univerzi Spodnje Šlezije (ULS) v Vroclavu na 
Poljskem maja 2017, ko smo razpravljali o nosilni temi konference Adult learning & com-
munities in a world on the move: between national tensions and transnational challenges. 
Vse od mesecev pred konferenco leta 2017 smo v Evropi priča migracijskim valovom brez 
primere, ko se valovi beguncev premikajo iz države v državo in prečkajo meje v številu, 
kakršnega v Evropi nismo videli vse od leta 1945. Samo v letu 2015 je meje EU prečkalo 
več kot milijon beguncev in razseljenih oseb. Po podatkih UNHCR je leta 2018 na svetu 
65 milijonov razseljenih oseb, 22,5 milijona beguncev v pristojnosti OZN, med glavnimi 
tremi državami izvora – Južni Sudan, Afganistan in Sirija – pa samo iz Sirije prihaja kar 
5,5 milijona beguncev ... 
Mreža BGL-ALC se je odločila, da se posveti izobraževanju odraslih in skupnostim v tem 
»svetu v gibanju« ter skozi razpravo obravnava možne odzive na nacionalne napetosti in 
nadnacionalne izzive, ki jih opažamo in doživljamo pri svojem delu. »Lokalne« izredne 
situacije – uničevanje civilne družbe (Sirija, Jemen, Ukrajina) in bombardiranje sirskih 
mest s strani ruskih, ameriških in zdaj tudi turških zračnih sil – postajajo »globalne« iz-
kušnje na splavih, ki se pred našimi očmi potapljajo pred obalo Lampeduse, v še vedno 
prenatrpanih »džungelskih« taboriščih v Calaisu, na Lezbosu in v različnih krajih po 
celotnem Balkanu. Ti globalni šoki se nato spet spreminjajo v »lokalna« izredna stanja 
in hkrati tudi lokalne priložnosti, ko več migracijskih valov in političnih šokov, drug za 
drugim dosegajo in začenjao vključevati civilno družbo.
Odzivi v civilni družbi kažejo silno ustvarjalnost in energijo, ki ju lahko spodbudita soli-
darnost in ideja civilne socialne pravičnosti, prepleteni z izobraževanjem. Kjer so državne 
institucije reagirale z zamudo, so begunce začeli sprejemati v okviru številnih iniciativ, 
energija na tisoče prostovoljcev, učiteljev, vodnikov, mentorjev in delodajalcev je sprožila 
odziv civilnih iniciativ in lokalnih skupnosti, ki razvijajo nove oblike solidarnosti in v 
praksi udejanjajo osnovno demokratično državljanstvo. Ta odziv prihaja ob pravem času, 
saj smo povsod po Evropi in tudi širše priča medsebojno nasprotujočim si reakcijam ci-
vilne in »necivilne« družbe, novim oblikam politične turbulence in globalnega nereda, 
12 ANDRAGOŠKA SPOZNANJA 1/2018
ki postavljajo pod vprašaj večino institucij in praks, ki smo jih morda predolgo jemali za 
samoumevne.
NAŠA MREŽA IN SVET V GIBANJU
Prva stvar, ki jo lahko poudarimo glede raziskovalnih področij in metodoloških perspektiv 
mreže BGL-ALC, je raznolikost, ta pa je povsem v sozvočju z raznolikostjo, s katero se 
srečujemo pri razpravljanju o skupnostih. Trdimo, da raznolike skupnosti v sebi vključu-
jejo celotno raznovrstnost ljudi, ki v njih živijo. V skupnosti sta konflikt in konfrontacija 
nekaj običajnega, konflikt in način, kako se ta razrešuje, pa sta pomembna elementa za 
definicijo skupnosti kot simboličnega prostora. V razpravah smo tako razmišljali o kon-
ceptu skupnosti in različnih vlogah, ki jih skupnost lahko ima v vsakdanjem življenju ljudi 
kot prostor zatočišča ali kot prostor konfrontacije in debate. 
Skupnost je tudi prostor združevanja ljudi in javni prostor, kjer se razvija vsakodnevno 
življenje. V tem smislu lahko potrdimo, da je skupnost prostor učenja; odličen prostor 
za učenje o demokraciji in participaciji ter hkrati prostor, ki je vir učenja in poučevanja. 
Skupnost je prostor, kjer ljudje ustvarjajo znanje o sebi, to pa jim omogoča nadaljnjo 
transformacijo skupnosti in izboljševanje življenja ljudi, ki v njej živijo.
Ustvarjanje znanja je pomemben korak k raziskovanju in spreminjanju skupnosti, vendar 
pa je takšno ustvarjanje znanja mogoče izvesti na alternativne načine (kot se to na primer 
dogaja v participativnem raziskovanju) in s pridobivanjem alternativnega znanja: osvoba-
jajočega znanja, ki omogoča ljudem, da razumejo in preoblikujejo svoje okolje, in ki jim 
pomaga razumeti svet.
Družbena gibanja so prav tako prostor izobraževanja in razvoja odraslih. Družbena 
gibanja lahko ustvarjajo solidarnost in delitev odgovornosti. Skupnosti temeljijo na 
solidarnosti med člani, a tudi na solidarnosti z ljudmi zunaj skupnosti. V današnjem 
kontekstu valov migracij in razseljevanja, šovinizma in ksenofobije je ta pomembni 
korak od »jaz« k »mi« predmet razprave v naši mreži in osrednji element tukaj pred-
stavljenih člankov.
Sklenemo lahko, da je najpomembnejša naloga razmišljanje o socialnih spremembah v 
kontekstu migracij in bega, nadaljevanja boja za socialno pravičnost, za mir in pravico do 
dostojnega življenja v smislu varnosti, dostojanstva in enakosti: razmišljanje o skušnjavah 
demagogije in šovinizma v sedanjem času naraščajočega nereda in boj proti tem skušnja-
vam, skupaj z razmišljanjem o načinu, kako lahko izobraževanje odraslih pomaga ljudem, 
da se s temi spremembami soočajo participativno in demokratično. 
ČLANKI
Izbor petih člankov, ki so del te tematske številke AS, temelji na njihovem prispevku 
k teo rijam učenja za svet v gibanju. Skupno jim je to, da vsi premišljajo koncepte vse-
življenjskega učenja, mednarodnega izobraževanja odraslih in programov za učenje v 
 13Rob Evans, Ewa Kurantowicz: Izobraževanje odraslih v svetu v gibanju
odrasli dobi ter postavljajo vprašanje, kakšen je prispevek našega raziskovanja k temu po-
dročju, kakšen naj bi bil in kakšen lahko postane. Vsak na svoj način se sprašujejo, kako 
lahko zgradimo boljši dialog in večjo povezanost med raznolikimi ljudmi v situacijah, 
kjer se priložnosti za dialog znajdejo pred izzivi, kjer so »drugi« v naših mestih in regijah 
pogosto doživeti kot grožnja in ne kot vir solidarnosti, učenja in obogatitve. Članki prina-
šajo alternativne poglede na učenje odraslih in diskurze moči, na razlike in »identiteto« 
ter nove oblike solidarnosti, ki spodbujajo socialno učenje ter ustvarjanje demokratičnih 
oblik državljanstva in skupnega življenja. 
Učenje odraslih in delo, ki ga opravljajo družbena gibanja, lokalne iniciative in vladne 
agencije v svojih odzivih, so še eno posebno področje razprave, ki ga tu obravnavamo. V 
pričujočih člankih se avtorji sprašujejo, kako se naše raziskovanje odziva na trenutne de-
finicije »suverenosti« znotraj nacionalnih držav in na prevzemanje koncepta »identitete«, 
ki ga danes mnogi vidijo kot nespremenljiv atribut narodov/etničnih skupin in formulirajo 
kot antitezo razlik in raznolikosti. Tokratna tematska številka prinaša te in še vse druge 
teme, ki se nanašajo na odnos med izobraževanjem odraslih in skupnostmi ter vlogo lo-
kalnih akterjev, najsi gre za posameznike najsi institucije, in nadnacionalnih gibanj, ki 
odgovarjajo na izzive na tisoče ljudi v gibanju. 
Jim Crowther z Univerze v Edinburgu s prispevkom »Protislovje populizma: potrje-
vanje vloge izobraževanja odraslih za demokracijo« odpira razpravo, tako da izzove 
običajne predpostavke izobraževalcev o demokratični upravičenosti populističnih pro-
testov. Čeprav prepoznava, da so izrazi ljudske jeze na »esteblišment« in »politično 
elito« pogosto problematični, Crowther še vseeno meni, da je bistveno »priznati legi-
timna demokratična prizadevanja ljudi, ki so žrtve globalizacije in ki jih je liberalna 
demokracija prezrla«. Dokazuje, da moramo poiskati načine, kako te izraze jeze in 
frustracije, ki zlahka vodijo v iskanje »močnega« voditeljskega lika tipa Trump ali Le 
Pen, združiti z izobraževanjem odraslih kot virom za poglabljanje demokracije, name-
sto da jih preprosto zavračamo in obsojamo kot neupravičene in ozkogledne. Crowther 
se opira na avtorje, kot so Gramsci, Laclau in Mouffe, ter trdi, da lahko ustvarjalno moč 
tega nasprotovanja uporabimo za to, da krizo demokracije in izobraževanja odraslih 
koristno izrabimo za generiranje produktivnih sinergij, ki jih morajo razviti izobraže-
valci odraslih. Ponovno uveljavljanje izobraževanja odraslih za demokracijo ustvar-
ja priložnost za krepitev izobraževanja odraslih in za krepitev demokracije. Crowther 
svojo argumentacijo podpre s pregledom razvoja dogodkov v času polemike o brexitu 
na Škotskem. Razprave o konceptih, kot so suverenost, »patriotizem« in skupnostna 
identiteta, skupaj s številnimi oblikami ljudskih iniciativ, ki so bile ustanovljene z na-
menom doseči odprto demokratično debato, po njegovem ilustrirajo zagonsko spodbu-
do za nove oblike političnega učenja in izobraževanja, s katero se mora izobraževanje 
odraslih aktivno povezati. Izobraževanje odraslih je globalno in tudi v škotskem pri-
meru, ki ga obravnava Crowther, v resni nevarnosti, da bo ostalo izolirano in ločeno 
od socialnega boja kot ujetnik dominantnih političnih programov, ki imajo le malo 
skupnega z demokracijo, socialno pravičnostjo, enakostjo ali svobodo. Izobraževanje 
14 ANDRAGOŠKA SPOZNANJA 1/2018
odraslih, trdi Crowther, se mora ponovno povezati s svojimi zgodovinskimi koreninami 
in spet postati zaveznik promocije demokratičnega življenja, ki gre prek meja liberal-
nodemokratskih različic demokracije.
Če želi rešiti svojo lastno dušo, mora izobraževanje odraslih aktivno sodelovati v zgodo-
vini. Zgodovinsko je njegova vloga, da spodbuja ekspanzivno in inkluzivno demokracijo, 
ta pa lahko nato sama prispeva k revitalizaciji izobraževanja odraslih. 
Članek Sylwie Słowińske »Kulturne pobude od spodaj navzgor v lokalnih skupnostih 
– med umikom in družbenim vključevanjem« obravnava načine, kako ustvarjalci in or-
ganizatorji kulturnih iniciativ od spodaj navzgor v lokalnih kontekstih oblikujejo odno-
se z lokalno skupnostjo. Avtorica predstavi pet načinov oblikovanja odnosov z lokalno 
skupnostjo. Trdi, da lahko te umestimo na kontinuum med dvema skrajnostma: umik 
(odmaknjenost od skupnosti) in aktivno sodelovanje v reševanju skupnostnih problema-
tik. Ugotovitve kažejo na tri modele kulturnih iniciativ od spodaj navzgor: iniciativa kot 
enklava, niša in platforma. Avtorica meni, da vsi trije tipi kulturnih iniciativ od spodaj 
navzgor očitno omogočajo priložnosti za učenje v lokalnih skupnostih, vendar pa je za 
»platforme« – aktivnosti, odprte za sodelovanje in udeležbo skupnosti – bolj verjetno, da 
bodo ustvarjale prostor za izobraževanje, strogo povezano s potrebami in težavami lokal-
ne skupnosti.
Predstavljena raziskava kulturnih iniciativ od spodaj navzgor je bila izvedena leta 2012 na 
zahodu Poljske s pomočjo poglobljenih intervjujev in opazovanja. Avtoričini podatki za-
jemajo 16 kulturnih iniciativ, med katerimi se posamezne izvajajo v vaseh, manjših krajih 
in mestih. Słowińska razume poljsko družbo kot »liminalno«, kot družbo, v kateri soob-
stajajo vzorci in družbene norme, ki so značilni tako za »staro« kot za »novo« ureditev. 
Tako kot v drugih družbah, kjer je prišlo ali prihaja do zelo hitrih sprememb v relativno 
kratkem času, je posledični »hibridni« značaj družbene in kulturne reprodukcije izjemno 
pomemben za razvoj državljanstva in demokratičnega skupnostnega izobraževanja. Raz-
iskovanje kulturnih iniciativ od spodaj navzgor je posebno zanimivo v času naraščajoče 
družbene zadržanosti, umika v zasebno sfero in slabljenja državljanske ideje. Kot piše 
Słowińska, je gradnja demokratične civilne družbe na Poljskem naporno početje; avtorica 
ugotavlja, da je civilna družba šibka in krhka, ter poudarja pomen iniciativ, ki lahko po-
vežejo sodelovanje v skupnosti z možnostmi izobraževanja odraslih. 
Emilio Lucio-Villegas v članku »Reka in ljudje. Pristop k spominom, obrti in izobraževanju 
odraslih« predstavlja raziskavo v teku o ljudeh in tradicionalni obrti, njihovem delu in 
življenju na bregovih reke Guadalquivir v Španiji – v osrednji študiji preprosto poime-
novane kot »Reka« – ter zagovarja obujanje spominov skupnosti in obujanje spominov 
na obrt pod grožnjo sil globalizacije skupaj z delovnimi migracijami, redefiniranjem/
uničevanjem poklicev in vzorcev dela, izobraževanjem za kvalifikacije, potiskanjem na 
ekonomski rob itd. 
V prispevku se avtor zanima za človeško, simbolno in geografsko ozemlje na brego-
vih Reke. Obnavljanje integritete življenjskih tradicij in nadaljevanje praks je na tem 
 15Rob Evans, Ewa Kurantowicz: Izobraževanje odraslih v svetu v gibanju
območju lahko generator izkušenj in učenja, trdi avtor. Izkušnje so povezane z identite-
to posameznika in skupnosti kot element, ki članom skupnosti omogoča, da razumejo 
in verbalno posredujejo, kako ustvarjajo vezi med sabo in z okoljem. Prispevek prinaša 
prve rezultate raziskovanja na Reki. Lucio-Villegas obravnava obrt, povezano z Reko; 
uporabo Reke za prevoz blaga in ljudi; družinske vezi, povezane z obrtjo; čedalje večjo 
mobilnost ljudi na Reki, ki izvira iz globalizacije/svetovljanstva, in posledične spre-
membe. Avtor pokaže, da imajo v življenju Reke pomembno vlogo ženske iz te rečne 
skupnosti, a tudi prvine magije in skrivnosti, ki se prenašajo skozi leta dela in življenja 
na bregovih Reke. Lucio-Villegas nakaže pomen obnavljanja tradicionalne obrti kot 
vira za izobraževanje odraslih in kot sredstva za vzdrževanje kulturne identitete ob 
grožnji globalizacijskih procesov. Ponovno odkrivanje, obnavljanje in vzdrževanje te 
tradicionalne obrti bi, pravi, lahko potenciralo tradicionalno znanje in vire skupno-
sti. Takšno učenje odraslih je postavljeno v jasno nasprotje s politiko vseživljenjskega 
učenja, ki se osredotoča samo na posameznika kot (bodočega) delavca brez spomina 
ali zgodovine. Lucio-Villegas članek zaključuje z izzivom brez okolišanja: da bi, kot 
zagovarja Freire, reagirali proti politikam, ki razčlovečujejo, moramo rekonstruirati lo-
kalne kulturne identitete, ki ljudem omogočajo, da postanejo protagonisti svojega sveta 
življenja in življenja v svoji skupnosti. 
Marta Gregorčič z Univerze v Ljubljani se v svojem prispevku postavi na podobno stališče in 
kritično obravnava ne samo grožnje svetu življenja in znanju ljudi v skupnostih, temveč izrec-
no tudi pristranskost tako v »zahodnem« družboslovju na splošno kot tudi v raziskovalnem 
delu znotraj naših lastnih mrež. V članku »Utišane epistemologije: moč pričevanj in kritičnih 
(avto)biografij za sodobno izobraževanje« se tako sprašuje, ali lahko pričevalke oziroma 
pripovedovalke kritičnih (avto)biografij prepoznamo tudi kot (so)avtorice znanstvenega 
oziroma literarnega pisanja. Avtorica v prispevku razmišlja o lastnem biografskem razi-
skovanju na področju revolucionarnih gibanj na globalenem jugu in zatiranih in utišanih 
skupin na različnih celinah ter identificira značilnosti pričevanj, ki jih umešča v odnosu 
do Santosovih Epistemologij Juga. S pomočjo nekaterih najpomembnejših primerov lite-
rarnega pisanja, ki je opolnomočilo družbeno emancipacijo, pokaže, kako inovativno se 
lahko pedagogika pričevanj uporablja pri učenju in raziskovanju ter tudi kako lahko pri-
čevanja tvorno prispevajo k nadvse potrebnemu razmisleku o tem, čemur pravi »utišane 
epistemologije v predavalnici in v širši družbi«. 
Priče socialne nepravičnosti, zlorab človekovih pravic in vojne pogosto niso samo viri in-
formacij, temveč so hkrati tudi nosilci »posebnih« sposobnosti, znanja in včasih celo epi-
stemologije, trdi avtorica in nakazuje načine za privzemanje alternativnega znanstvenega 
razumevanja sveta. Sledeč L. Stanley in feministični raziskovalni metodologiji, pričevanja 
in avtobiografije nujno zaznamujejo medbesedilnost, odzivnost na diskurz in medoseb-
nost. Vprašanje, ali so raziskovalni subjekti avtorji oziroma soavtorji nove epistemologije 
ali vsaj dela epistemologije, doslej ni bilo eksplicitno obravnavano. Kljub temu so neka-
teri sociologi, izobraževalci, novinarji in drugi že predstavili to idejo, tako da so bile priče 
zabeležene ali neposredno podpisane v znanstvenem in/ali literarnem delu.
16 ANDRAGOŠKA SPOZNANJA 1/2018
Argumentacija M. Gregorčič je zelo ostra in nekaterim se bo morda zdela enostranska. 
Mnogi raziskovalci – še posebno tisti, ki prihajajo s področja (avto)biografskega razisko-
vanja – bodo dejali, da prakticirajo odkrivanje utišanih epistemologij v »getovskih učil-
nicah«, ustanovah, družini, domorodnih skupnostih že vsaj od del avtorjev, kot so hooks, 
Rockhill, Steedman in Lather, če naj jih omenimo le nekaj. Menimo, da je avtoričina 
ostrina, nasprotno, tako upravičena kot koristna. Dilema o jeziku in »pravici do govora« 
je v najbolj udobnih raziskovalnih skupnostih več kot dovolj pogosta in mi sami moramo 
zavzeti kritično stališče do epistemologij, ki so zapakirane izključno v »zahodne« anglo-
saške formate – na primer citatne indekse, ki vladajo akademskemu življenju in delu – in 
ki dajejo prednost oblikam pisanja in diskurza v angleščini; prav tu M. Gregorčič dela 
dragocene prve korake.
»'Preoblikovanje družbenosti' – sociografičnost kot koncept razumevanja emancipatorne 
prakse in družbenih sprememb« je naslov zadnjega prispevka, ki ga je pripravila Angela 
Pilch-Ortega z Univerze v Gradcu. Tudi zadnji članek se kritično loteva konceptov učenja, 
ki se običajno osredotočajo na učečega se posameznika in učenje zaradi dobička, lastnega 
interesa, posameznikovega samouresničevanja. A. Pilch-Ortega piše, da postajajo v sve-
tu v gibanju vprašanja demokratizacije, solidarnosti, dostojanstva, pravične porazdelitve 
virov, priložnosti za življenje in učenje čedalje pomembnejša in čedalje bolj nujna. Kot 
pravi, so v tem kontekstu družbeni problemi v skupnostih zaradi dramatičnih sprememb 
in resnih družbenih razlik videni ne samo kot problemi posameznikov, temveč tudi kot 
nadindividualni izzivi, ki kličejo k ustvarjanju kolektivnih oblik spopadanja z njimi in 
učenja. Glede na splošno sprejeto stališče, da imajo lahko družbena gibanja emancipacij-
ski in inovativni potencial za družbe in procese družbenih sprememb, se avtorica v članku 
osredotoča na »civilno učenje«, emancipacijske prakse in procese družbenih sprememb. 
A. Pilch-Ortega se iz teoretične perspektive loti učnih procesov, ki se nahajajo na nadin-
dividualnem nivoju in so povezani s skupnostmi in družbami. Pri obravnavi tega področja 
razišče družbeni svet kot odnosno sfero, ki nastaja v interakciji med družbenimi akterji, in 
vzajemno delovanje individualnih in kolektivnih oblik učenja. Avtoričin argument je, da v 
raziskovanju pogosto spregledamo pomen kolektivnih oblik učenja za procese družbenih 
sprememb in da civilne sfere in nova učna okolja ponujajo možnosti za učečo se družbo. 
Prav tako ugotavlja, da teoretična dela mnogokrat zanemarjajo pomembnost intersubjek-
tivnosti in dajejo preveč poudarka bodisi strukturni bodisi individualni perspektivi v pro-
cesih sociacije.
A. Pilch-Ortega poudarja, da se moramo kot člani družb soočati z doksičnimi predpostav-
kami in predrefleksivnim znanjem, ki nas vodijo skozi vsakdanje življenje, ob tem pa re-
produciramo družbeni status quo. Kljub temu se v tej naši dejavnosti skrivajo pomembne 
priložnosti, da prekinemo krog reprodukcije in ustvarimo trenutke kritične refleksije, ki 
lahko vodi k emancipacijskim praksam in družbenemu protestu. Tu avtorica uvede pojem 
»sociografičnosti« kot poskus koncepta, ki naj oriše tovrstne procese »preoblikovanja so-
cialnosti«. V interakciji z drugimi ustvarjamo družbeni svet, ki izvira iz tega skupnega 
delovanja. Ker se ureditev družbenih razmerij v veliki meri reproducira prek implicitnih 
 17Rob Evans, Ewa Kurantowicz: Izobraževanje odraslih v svetu v gibanju
struktur znanja, lahko s »preoblikovanjem socialnosti« transformiramo vzorce figuracije 
prek kritične refleksije o svetu, ki si ga delimo. Avtorica trdi, da lahko prakso preobli-
kovanja socialnosti najbolje razumemo kot neprekinjen oseben, medsebojno odvisen in 
kontekstualiziran proces. Kot piše, to posledično vpliva na vprašanje, kako naj teoretsko 
obravnavamo emancipacijske prakse in delovanje, da a) preprečimo nenehno reprodukci-
jo evrocentričnih pogledov na emancipacijo, b) se bojujemo proti težnjam po prevelikem 
poudarku na delovanju kot individualnem pojavu, c) ponovno premislimo kolektivno kot 
nenehno napredujočo figurativno strukturo.
S tem zgovornim prispevkom, ki temelji na obstoječi znanstveni literaturi in pomika meje 
raziskovalnega razmišljanja in prakse, zaključujemo tokratni izbor člankov. Vseh pet kaže 
zelo realno sliko trenutnega stanja naših razprav. Vsi članki prav tako osvetljujejo po-
membne in nujne izzive za naše delovno področje. Skupna rdeča nit je iskanje učnih 
perspektiv v svetu v gibanju, ki se osredotočajo na nove, odprte, skupne učne priložnosti, 
ukoreninjene v skupnosti in skupinskem učenju za družbene spremembe. V teh prispev-
kih lahko jasno zaznamo, da se postavljajo po robu globalnim pritiskom in tudi na Zahod 
osredotočenim pogledom. Naj bo razprava zanimiva in bogata.
Rob Evans in Ewa Kurantowicz