Idealistic Assertions or Realistic Possibilities in Community and Youth Work Education

Community and youth work (CYW) practice has been articulated as striving towards a more socially just and equal society and is theorised as a catalyst for social change that seeks to overcome power differentials. Yet, despite these claims, there is limited empirical evidence to inform knowledge about the extent to which ‘equality work’ is featured and practiced in CYW programmes in higher education. This article draws on perspectives from current and former CYW students in the UK which routinely claim critical pedagogy as the bedrock of professionally approved degree programmes. Utilising a survey approach, our aim was to examine the experiences of students to find out if teaching, learning and assessment practices in professionally approved CYW programmes can be argued as helping students to articulate practice as emancipatory. The findings indicate that there was coherence and a strong understanding of core theories that confirmed CYW programmes as helping students to articulate emancipatory practice. In relation to teaching and learning, programmes were not as aligned with critical pedagogy, inclining more towards traditional and formal methods than alternative or informal methods. Finally, an imbalance between the persistent use of standardised assessment methods over more flexible and creative assessments suggested a reluctance to seek, or develop, more emancipatory sustainable assessment alternatives. The article concludes by arguing that informal education and, specifically, CYW programmes are well-placed to drive institutional and social change forward.

Critical Realist Philosophy and the Possibility of an Eco-decolonial Museology

New forms of museum practice that explore the dynamics of social and ecological processes as interlinked systems are increasingly urgent. Critical realist philosophy is used to consider the emergence of tensions between museological processes of decolonization and ecologization, and potentials for their resolution into a new form of practice, which is conceptualized as eco-decolonial. The analysis is focused on South African museums, but is contextualized within international theory and practice. An exploration of the ontology of museum work surfaces a core tension in that trends towards a relational and emancipatory practice are paradoxically embedded within neoliberal ideology. Neoliberalism depends on and perpetuates the problematic human-nature dualism of the colonial era, and constrains the development of progressive social-ecological forms of museum practice. The analysis explores potentials for the resolution of this tension, in a contribution towards the transformation of the philosophical and theoretical frameworks of museum practice.

Religious feminists and the intersectional feminist movements: Insights from a case study

Scholars describe Global North feminisms as mostly ‘secular’ and often opposing religion. Contemporary feminist intersectional movements seem to offer different approaches able to overcome distances and articulate the role of religion in feminist emancipatory practice. This contribution explores the complex role of religion in intersectional feminist movements, drawing on the experiences of religious-feminist and secular-feminist women in Italy. The results highlight that religious women are increasingly part of feminist intersectional movements. Nonetheless, religious inequalities are often overlooked, and religion triggers ambivalent reactions, often resulting in a process of othering minority women.

Political ecology of adaptation: claiming a critical biomimicry for the Anthropocene

<p>In this article, the authors appropriate the concept of <em>adaptation</em> within the framework of <em>political ecology</em>, in order to critically rethink the principle of biomimicry as a strategy capable of contributing to the construction of a sustainable society, in an era plagued by deleterious effects generated by the socioeconomic system. The article uses the concept of «sustainability» as an emancipatory practice not only intricate with environmental issues but mostly with political matters. A <em>political ecology of adaptation</em> should allow, then, to understand adaptation in terms of the political commitments involved and the social interests at stake. The authors propose an adaptation criterion that allows <em>redesigning</em> the technosphere to harmonize the biophysical processes and social development. These criteria are not only intended to provide solutions to the<em> design problem</em>, but also to contribute to overcome unequal geographical development and the cynicism that supports it.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Technological adaptation; technosphere; vulnerability; sustainable innovation; political sustainability</p>

Evaluating the helpfulness of a co-construction approach to career learning and development programme design

My research explored the helpfulness of co-constructing a career learning and development (CLD) programme with and for adults with mental health challenges. Following a literature review, I adopted a participatory action research strategy, aiming to position a client of the charity where my research was based as a partner in programme design. Emerging themes from semi-structured interviews offered insights into client requirements and concerns, enabling draft programme creation and refinement. In this context, co-construction facilitated delivery of a client-focused, theory-based CLD programme, offering a valuable practitioner learning opportunity, and a vehicle to challenge power relations and pursue emancipatory practice.

Changing representations of activists and activism in public relations textbooks

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to Coombs and Holladay’s (2012a) concern that textbooks have had a powerful and negative influence on public relations’ curricula because they have positioned public relations as a function of business, rather than as a field of knowledge and practice that plays an emancipatory role in society.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a diachronic, thematic analysis of public relations textbooks dating from 1981 to 2017. This methodology is valid because textbooks not only disseminate the knowledge base associated with a community of practice, but they are also influential legitimisers of curricula and bodies of knowledge.FindingsThe findings show that public relations textbooks are slowly evolving to include activist studies as a content area from both a strategic business perspective and a critical perspective.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size is small but sufficient to indicate the beginnings of a trend. While the influence of textbooks on curricula is waning as students look beyond prescribed texts to a wider array of readings, they remain the most influential educational medium worldwide (Fuchs and Bock, 2018).Practical implicationsThe paper calls for a greater inclusion of activist studies in contemporary public relations curricula to prepare practitioners for changes to the communications environment, as well as an opportunity for public relations to reposition itself as an emancipatory field of knowledge and practice.Social implicationsActivism studies, as a curriculum field, provide a foundation for positioning public relations as an emancipatory practice.Originality/valueThe paper proposes that incorporating activism studies into public relations curricula is a way for public relations to reframe itself as a field of knowledge and practice that plays an emancipatory role in society.

From Critical to Transformative Pedagogy in Architectural Education

Transformative pedagogy is a contemporary educational ideal intended to actively promote the transformation of the life and inner perception of the learner and his/her community. It emerged at the dawn of the 21st century from a line of counter-hegemonic thought that has been called emancipatory, liberal, radical or critical in the effort to chart a new direction for post-industrial education. This paper addresses the struggle of architectural education to maintain its aim as an emancipatory practice within an ever-evolving disciplinary culture.

‘Rewriting sociality’ – sociographicity as a concept for comprehending emancipatory practice and social change

The aim of the paper is to highlight the capacity of social actors, groups and communities to critically reflect on sociality and the question of how the spaces we live in together are created and constructed. In doing so, the contribution explores the interplay between individual and collective modes of learning. The author argues in this context that theories dealing with the dialectical relationship between structures and subjects somewhat overlook the relevance of civil spheres. Drawing on empirical research of social movements, emancipatory practices and social change, the author developed a theoretical tool which allows mapping processes of ‘rewriting sociality’ and its relation to biographical learning as well as community and societal learning. The article reviews biographicity as a rich and generative concept and will pay particular attention to questions of intersubjectivity and the social world as a relational sphere. Finally, the paper focuses on aspects of social movement practices and questions concerning the reproduction and transformation of social conventions and normative assumptions.