MAIS 644: Adult Education, Community Leadership, and the Crisis of Democracy (Rev. 1) Report a Broken Link

This is a course about adult education and community leadership. It begins from the premise that we live in a time of extraordinary worldwide upheaval and questioning about the fate of the earth. Among other things, this course considers:

  • democracy in our business and community orgnizations,
  • the elements of democratic communication (conversation),
  • ways to speak and act intelligently as designers of just learning organizations.

Unit 1


M. Welton, “The contribution of critical theory to our understanding of adult learning,” in S. Merriam, ed. New directions for adult and continuing education, no. 57, Spring 1993, pp. 81-90.
M. Cooke, “Communicative action: An overview,” in Language and reason: A study in Habermas’ pragmatics. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994, pp. 1-27.
Stephen Kemmis (1998). System and lifeworld, and the conditions of learning in late modernity, Curriculum Studies, 6:3, 269-305.
M. Welton, “The critical turn in adult education theory” in M. Welton, ed. In defense of the lifeworld: critical perspectives on adult learning. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995, pp.11-38.
A. Giddens, “Two theories of democratization,” in Beyond left and right: the future of radical politics. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994, pp. 104-133.
I. Angus, “What is democratic debate?” in Emergent publics: an essay on social movements and democracy. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2001, pp. 21-37.
J. Bohman, “Introduction: deliberation and democracy,” in Public deliberation: pluralism, complexity, and democracy. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 1-21.
S. Chambers, “Discourse and democratic practices,” in S. White, ed. The Cambridge companion to Habermas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 233-259.

Unit 2


L. Fields, “Rethinking 'organisational' learning,” in G. Foley, ed. Dimensions of adult learning. CrowsNest, Australia: Allen and Unwin, 2004, pp. 201-218.
Catherine Casey (2003). The learning worker, organizations and democracy. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 22:6, 620-634.
M. Welton, “How business organizations learn and unlearn,” in M. Welton, Designing the just learning society: a critical inquiry. Leicester: NIACE, 2005, pp.72–99. .
M. Welton, “Inhibited learning in business organizations,” in Designing the just learning society, pp. 100–126.
M. Welton, “Ethics and empowerment in business organizations,” in Designing the just learning society, pp.127–149.

Unit 3


M. Welton, “Civil society,” in L. English, ed. International Encyclopedia of Adult Education. London: Macmillan, Palgrave, 2005, pp. 100-106.
S. Chambers, “A critical theory of civil society,” in S. Chambers and W. Kymlicka, eds. Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, pp. 90-110.
Mark Murphy (2001). The politics of adult education: state, economy and civil society. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20:5, 345-360.
Gerard Delanty (2003). Citizenship as a learning process: disciplinary citizenship versus cultural citizenship. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 22:6, 597-605.
B. Hall and D. Clover, “Social movement learning,” in L. English, ed. International Encyclopedia of Adult Education, pp. 584-589.
R. Morris, “Social movements,” in International Encyclopedia of Adult Education, pp. 589-594.
Angus, I. 2001. “Democracy has always been a radical idea,”  in Emergent publics: An essay on social movements and democracy. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing,pp. 39-56.
Angus, I. 2001. “Always beginning again,”  in Emergent publics: An essay on social movements and democracy. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing,pp. 57-69.
M. Finger, “New social movements and their implications for adult education,” Adult Education Quarterly, 40, 1989, pp. 15-22.
M. Welton, “Social revolutionary learning: the new social movements as learning sites,” Adult Education Quarterly, 43, 1993, pp. 152-164.
J. Holford, “Why social movements matter: adult education theory, cognitive praxis, and the creation of knowledge,” Adult Education Quarterly, 45, 1995, pp. 95-111.
B. Spencer, “Old and new social movements as learning sites: greening labor unions and unionizing the greens,” Adult Education Quarterly, 46, 1995, pp. 31-42.
M. Welton, “Listening, conflict and citizenship: towards a pedagogy of civil society,” in International Journal of Lifelong Education, 21 (3), May-June 2002, pp. 197-208.
M. Welton, “A realistic utopia for the twenty-first century,” in Designing the Just Learning Society, pp. 210-219.

Unit 4


M. Welton, “Conflicting visions, divergent strategies: Watson Thomson and the cold war politics of adult education in Saskatchewan, 1944-46,” Labour/Le Travail, 18, 1986, pp. 111-138.
M. Welton and J. Lecky, “Volunteerism as the seedbed of democracy: the educational thought and practice of Guy Henson of Nova Scotia,” Studies in the Education of Adults, 29 (1), 1997, pp. 25-38.
C. Harris, “A sense of themselves: leadership, communicative learning and government policy in the service of community renewal,” Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 16(2), Nov. 2002, pp. 30-53.

Unit 5


Miller, S. 2006. "Conversation and its discontents," in Conversation: A History of a Declining Art. New Haven: Yale University Press,  pp. 1-28.
Miller, S. 2006. "The age of conversation: Eighteenth-century Britain," in Conversation: A History of a Declining Art. New Haven: Yale University Press,  pp. 1-28.
F. Bird, “Good conversations,” in The Muted Conscience: Moral Silence and the Practice of Ethics in Business. Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books, 1996, pp. 191-225.
S. Chambers, “Feminist discourse/practical discourse,” in J. Meehan, ed. Feminists Read Habermas: Gendering the Subject of Discourse. New York and London: Routledge, 1995, pp. 163-179.
W.B. Pearce, “Toward a national conversation about public issues,” in W.F. Eadie and P. E. Nelson, eds. The Changing Conversation in America. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2002, pp. 13-37.
W. Isaacs., “Fields of conversation,” in W. Isaacs, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together. NY: Currency Press, 1999, pp. 252-290.
W. Isaacs., “Convening dialogue,” in W. Isaacs, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together. NY: Currency Press, 1999, pp. 291-290.

Unit 6


A. Sen, “Making sense of identity,” in A. Sen, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006, pp. 18-39.
P. Resnick., “Is multiculturalism enough?’ in P. Resnick, The European Roots of Canadian Identity. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2005, pp. 57-64.
P. Resnick, “The cultural imperative,” in P. Resnick, The European Roots of Canadian Identity. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2005, pp. 83-88.
Hon. A. Clarkson, “The society of difference,” The Walrus, June 2007, pp. 38-40.
R. Dworkin, "Religion and Dignity," in Is Democracy Possible Here? Principles for a New Political Debate. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, pp. 52-89.
J. Habermas, “Faith and knowledge,” in E. Mendieta, ed. The Frankfurt School on Religion. NY: Routledge, 2005, pp. 327-337.
S. Benhabiib, “L’affair du foulard,” in S. Benhabib, The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents and Citizens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 183-198.