The Popular Education News
The final issue, the 70th, was posted on August 22, 2011.
The Popular Education News has bee a free monthly email newsletter about popular education and community organizing resources for facilitators and practitioners. Approximately 150 publications have been publicized in the eight years of the newsletter's life. All back issues are archived on this website.
In addition to a long (for this newsletter) editorial the final issue features a report, Under The Radar: Popular Education In North America, by Dr. Drick Boyd, Eastern University, on his sabbatical project meeting and interviewing popular educators across North America
This issue has a section MISC GATHERINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS, in addition to listing coming conferences and training opportunities, has links to web sites with a rich array of resources, in particular two relatively new sites that encourage people to post their own resources: Build the Wheel and Beyond the Choir.
Also the IN MINNESOTA sectionincludes a listing of events coming up in the region, and a repeat of the announcement about a new fund to support improving popular education work in Minnesota by activist, organizers, and community-based educators.
Please contact us for further information.
Popular education is the education in popular movements, i.e., democratic social movements against oppression and violence, and for sustainability, human rights, justice and peace. The point of view of this newsletter is that popular education is a broad framework of political and pedagogical principles from which all who do education can learn – whether they are community organizers, activists, community-based educators, or classroom teachers. These principles have multiple roots. Among those roots are:
- the work of Paulo Freire and the many who were inspired by his work - including their rich contributions for social analysis and using the arts in education and organizing
- Myles Horton and the Highlander Center who knew which side they were on - their simple and powerful processes helped communities name their problems and figure out what to do about them
- The Training Movement that included the materials developed by the National Training Laboratory - materials that include many participatory activites focusing on communication skills, group work, simulations, etc., tools for building a better society
- the feminist movement that brought new issues to the foreground and a new language of equity to popular education work.
Popular education provides inspiration and hope to communities and people in them who are struggling against oppression and violence. It brings a wide range of resources for improving and strengthening educational work, starting from personal experience, and moving to shared and social understanding. Democratic, participatory educational methods that create inclusion, give voice, and honor each person’s humanity are central to this approach. It is centered on people’s knowledge, providing tools to help people identify what they know, acknowledging people’s understanding of their own problems and having faith in people’s ability to find and create the knowledge they need to solve them. It provides a rich repertoire of the use of music, theater, and the arts in educational work. Finally, it builds on actions for democratic change and emphasizes systematic techniques and tools for reflection on that action.
Feedback and suggestions for this website are welcomed.
Site updated 8/22/2011