Adult and Higher Education in Queer Contexts: Power, Politics, and Pedagogy

From the “Forward” by Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota

“These days it is fashionable to lament the passing of adult education’s transgressive spirit. The historical myth that exercises considerable influence on the field is that adult education used to be a radical expression of the democratic spirit, but it has been tamed, moved to the dark side, become the lapdog of workplace learning, sold its soul to the devil of professionalism in a misguided attempt to be taken seriously by more powerful branches of education. This myth is just that – a myth. I have never believed it. The radical, transgressive spirit of adult education has endured and constantly reconfigured itself, doing its best to escape and outwit those who would contain and neutralize its energy and surfacing in ways that constantly take adult e ducators by surprise. The colleagues I work with in adult and higher education and the learners I serve and study with are neither tamed nor ideologically hoodwinked. This volume of spirited commitment — defiantly hopeful, seriously playful, and placing matt ers of desire and resistance at its center — is an apt representation of the enduring radical spirit of the best of adult education.”