Danny Wildemeersch

Beyond the Myth of Self-Actualization: Reinventing the Community Perspective of Adult Education

In this contribution, we discuss two tendencies in mainstream adult and continuing education. First, there is the tendency to gear adult and continuing education towards individualized responses to present day processes of social transformation. We interpret these changes with reference to the concept of the risk society. Second, we comment on the tendency of adult and continuing eduction to increasingly frame these individualized responses in labor market terms. These tendencies provoke a privatization of identity development and may even contribute to new forms of social inequality. In contrast with these developments, we emphasize the importance of adult education for social participation and social responsibility. In this perspective we reconceptualize both the ethic and the aesthetic dimension of adult education.

The Facilitation of the Life-World Transformation.

This article contributes to the theoretical discussions about perspective transformation(Mezirow, 1978). Referring to the continental tradition, the concept of life-world is introduced. This concept clarifies the interrelatedness of the action, reflection, person, and context dimensions of socialization processes and adult learning. Transformation of the life-world is analyzed. Three developmental stages are distinguished: the self-evident, threatened, and transformed life-world. The importance of this transformation in relation to adult education is explored and the developmental stages related to the task, relation, and growth-dimensions of educational processes. This results in a framework that clarifies both the theory and practice of adult education.

Learning from regularity, irregularity and responsibility

In this paper two complementary approaches towards the organization of the learning process are distinguished. The first approach deals with learning in regular, stable contexts and therefore has a mechanistic character. The second approach is concerned with learning as a process of adaptation to a variable context. Cybernetic principles govern this orientation. It is argued that both approaches may lack an ethical or political dimension. Therefore the importance of responsibility as a result of a dialogical process is emphasized.

Community forests as heterotopia. The case of the Mu community forest – Ngoc Son – Ngo Luong Nature Reserve, Vietnam

This paper examines issues of culture and power in regard to the Mu sacred forest, Vietnam, a community forest. The research uses Foucault’s notion of ‘heterotopia’ as a heuristic tool to interpret forest management. It appears that the Mu sacred forest can be understood as a space of ‘self reflective construction’, but also a space that might dissolve, destabilize, interrupt and suspend power. The moment of power suspension frees people from their usual frames. They can escape to some extent from authority and repression. This suggests that sustainable forest management can be promoted through acceptance of local culture and that community forest can be a ‘space of suspension and learning’.

The five million hectare reforestation programme in Vietnam – lessons and policy implications

The nationwide five million hectare reforestation programme (5MHRP) was adopted by the Government of Vietnam as a comprehensive policy to address deforestation and poverty in the mountainous regions all over Vietnam. The programme started in 1998 and ended in 2010. It received significant national and international interests. Scholars and practitioners have commented on the effectiveness and/or ineffectiveness of the performance of the 5MHRP and its relevant policies, but there have been no or only few documents consolidating either theoretical or practical lessons learnt from the implementation of this programme. Synthesising from large archival records and empirical studies on the results of the implementation of the 5MHRP, this paper discusses the specific achievements and limitations of the programmes. It especially questions the effectiveness and efficiency of the supported policies in relation to forest management and livelihood improvement of the people living in mountainous areas. It finally draws out seven key lessons learnt and five policy implications which are hopefully to serve as references for policy makers when setting up future programmes, strategies and policies for mountainous development in Vietnam.

Transcending the limits of traditional research: towards an interpretative approach to development communication and education

In this paper the author discusses two dominant paradigms that currently frame theory building and research practice, both in the discipline of development‐communication and in the discipline of development‐education: the modernist paradigm and the dependency paradigm. The discussion about the limits of both orientations clears the way for the multiplicity paradigm which attempts to transcend the shortcomings of the major paradigms. Furthermore, it is argued that the emergence of the multiplicity paradigm is influenced by the interpretative or communicative turn in social science. The interpretative approach pays special attention to the role of human beings as ‘actors’ in the social construction of reality. In addition to these arguments, the author refers to action research as a valuable methodology for development‐communication and development‐education. Finally, these considerations are completed with a critical evaluation of a research‐project which the author finished some years ago.