Priti Chopra

Seeking conditions of possibility: (re)conceptualising democratic discursive practices in a rights-based approach to adult education

This paper draws on ethnographic vignettes in an Indian rights-based approach to adult education programmes in order to examine the contestations and negotiations of facilitators in interface situations involving programme capacity building, monitoring and evaluation practice. The paper proposes that making visible the hegemonic nature of relationships between different adult education actors is critical to engendering democratic participation in adult education. It explores conditions of possibility for democratic participation in adult education in terms of (1) conceptualising empowerment as self-representation and autonomy; and (2) interrogating one’s identity through self-deconstruction as an ethical responsibility and commitment to equity and social justice. This analysis has implications for informing and enhancing democratic participation in adult education capacity building, monitoring and evaluation processes.

Women's right to learning and literacy

Reflecting some of the perspectives of Robinson-Pant and Nabi, that women’s learning should be developmental and part of more holistic policies, Chopra focuses on the expressed learning interests of traditional midwives. She explores how a rights-based and social transformation approach to literacy learning could result in an impact on female feticide and infanticide.