Henrik Nordvall

Paradoxes of Solidarity: Democracy and Colonial Legacies in Swedish Popular Education

Over the years, there have been several attempts to spread the “Swedish model” of popular education, that is, study circles and folk high schools, to countries in other parts of the world. In this article, the authors analyze the large-scale project of establishing folk development colleges in Tanzania in the 1970s and 1980s, by emphasizing the ways in which Swedish popular educators have described the folk development college project. Theoretically, the article is based on a postcolonial framework, highlighting the continuing importance of the legacies of colonialism in today’s society. One of the main conclusions in the article is that in the process of “exporting” the idea of popular education to other parts of the world, there is an ongoing formation of national self-images in contrast to images of the Other, where there is a constant risk of reproducing ideas from a colonial past.

Making Sense of the Social Forum : On the Local Framing of a Fashionable Global Symbol

The worldwide emergence of Social Forums (SF), originating from Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 2001, is a key element in the movement for global justice. A growing body of literature on the forums concerns its function as a transnational venue for civil society and a global symbol for resistance against neoliberalism. However, little empirical research is carried out on the local meanings of the widespread SFs. This article reports on a case study on the organizational process of a local forum in a Swedish town. The analysis focuses on intracoalitional interaction among activists from the labor movement, Attac, and a local cultural institution. The importance of considering local framing processes and the often-neglected influence of fashion when studying the emergence of SFs is emphasized. Findings show how the dichotomy the Old versus the New became crucial in the framing process. Framed as a novelty contrasted with “old” socialist values, the SF was rejected by the labor movement activists as just another expression of a contemporary neoliberal trend of depoliticization. Implications for the study of the social forum phenomenon are discussed.

Making Sense of the Social Forum

The worldwide emergence of Social Forums (SF), originating from Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 2001, is a key element in the movement for global justice. A growing body of literature on the forums concerns its function as a transnational venue for civil society and a global symbol for resistance against neoliberalism. However, little empirical research is carried out on the local meanings of the widespread SFs. This article reports on a case study on the organizational process of a local forum in a Swedish town. The analysis focuses on intracoalitional interaction among activists from the labor movement, Attac, and a local cultural institution. The importance of considering local framing processes and the often-neglected influence of fashion when studying the emergence of SFs is emphasized. Findings show how the dichotomy the Old versus the New became crucial in the framing process. Framed as a novelty contrasted with “old” socialist values, the SF was rejected by the labor movement activists as just another expression of a contemporary neoliberal trend of depoliticization. Implications for the study of the social forum phenomenon are discussed.

The Global Spread of the Nordic Folk High School Idea

Educational institutions that refer to Nordic folk high schools as role models exist across the world. In this chapter, the dissemination of ideas and institutions associated with the folk high schools is analyzed. Three ideal-typical dissemination patterns are identified: (1) migration (Nordic emigrants who have founded schools), (2) inspiration (non-Nordic actors who have ‘discovered’ the folk high school idea), and (3) dissemination through persuasion (the dissemination of folk high school ideas by Nordic actors). Finally, the chapter argues that in studying the global dissemination of adult education ideas and institutions, it is crucial to emphasize the contingency of the local translation processes related to the spread of ideas, as well as the presence of global power structures and discourses with origins in the colonial era.

The folk high school - a contemporary educational pathway for Swedish parliamentarians?

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore the contemporary role of the folk high school as an educational pathway for Swedish MPs. Statistics from the folk high school register at Statistics Sweden are analysed. In summary, there are still quite a large number of former folk high school participants in the Swedish parliament (27%, 2014). The MPs’ folk high school participation mainly took the form of short courses. Over time, the folk high schools have increasingly come to be used by members of parties on the left of the political spectrum. The folk high schools are commonly used as meeting places during the MPs’ political career, and thus not only as an educational pathway to power, as emphasised in earlier research.