Overview

Adult Education and the Formation of Citizens turns attention towards normative claims about who adults should become through education, and what capacities and skills adults need to develop to become included in society as ‘full’ citizens. Through these debates, adults are construed as not yet citizens, despite already being citizens in a formal sense; this book problematises such regimes of truth and their related notions of the possibilities and impossibilities of adult education and citizenship. Drawing on empirical examples from the two main adult education institutions in Sweden, folk high schools and municipal adult education, it argues that, through current regimes of truth, these institutions become spaces for the re-shaping of the ""abnormal"" citizen. The book suggests that only certain futures of citizenship and its educational provision are made possible, while other futures are ignored or even made impossible to imagine. Offering a unique focus on critically problematising the role of adult education in relation to the fostering and shaping of citizens, the book addresses the important contemporary challenges of the role of adult education in a time of migration. Adult Education and the Formation of Citizens will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning and education.

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Citizenship education is typically viewed as an unproblematic 'good' thing that empowers adults to participate fully in a democratic society. In this fascinating volume, Andreas Fejes and his colleagues outline the normative nature of citizenship education and challenge the idea that those not receiving such education are somehow 'less than' full citizens. Drawing on Foucault's ideas they analyse conceptions of citizenship and practices of education as regimes of truth, and explore the ways that power relations shape citizenship as a process of inclusion and exclusion. Stephen Brookfield, John Ireland Endowed Chair, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, USA. Never has there been time when we need more strategic adult education oriented to formal, nonformal and informal sectors, to address the ongoing crises in citizenship and global civil society. In putting adult education at the centre, the authors not only fill a deep gap in citizenship education, they push for more careful consideration of the many challenges citizens face globally. This book is a must read for those of us interested in the discourses of citizenship, adult education, and global civil society. Leona M. English is Professor of Adult Education at St. Francis Xavier University, Canada. This book addresses ongoing, key discussions on citizenship education, contributing an analysis disentangling current questions regarding constructions of citizenship. Hopefully this book can contribute to wise solutions to these kinds of wicked problems of our times. As such, the book should be of interest to a wide range of students and scholars interested in the current conditions for adults' learning and participatory citizenship. Annika Pastuhov, Postdoctoral researcher, Linkoeping University and Abo Akademi. Book review published in Adult Education Quarterly, DOI: 10.1177/0741713618807849)

Author Information

Andreas Fejes is a Professor and Chair of Adult Education Research at Linköping University, Sweden. Magnus Dahlstedt is a Professor in Social Work at Linköping University, Sweden. Maria Olson is a Professor in Educational work at Dalarna University, and a Professor in Subject Education at Stockholm University, Sweden. Fredrik Sandberg is a Lecturer in Education at Lund University, Sweden.

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