Conceptualizing Learning in the Climate Justice Movement

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AEQXXX10.1177/0741713617751043Adult Education QuarterlyKluttz and Walter

Article

Conceptualizing Learning in the Climate Justice Movement

Adult Education Quarterly 2018, Vol. 68(2) 91­–107 © The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713617751043 DOI: 10.1177/0741713617751043 journals.sagepub.com/home/aeq

Jenalee Kluttz1 and Pierre Walter1

Abstract This article extends Scandrett et al.’s conceptual framework for social movement learning to understand learning and knowledge creation in the climate justice movement. Drawing on radical pluralist theoretical approaches to social movement learning, learning in the climate justice movement is conceptualized at the micro, meso, and macro levels, along two continua of (a) unorganized and organized learning and (b) individual and collective learning. Two critical themes of learning about power and learning about place are used as examples to illustrate learning across the three levels. Article conclusions discuss strengths and limitations of the conceptual framework and directions for further research to better understand adult learning within the climate justice movement. Keywords social movement learning, climate justice, environmental protests, environmental adult education, radical adult education, climate change

Introduction The study of adult learning in social movements has comprised a rich and vibrant area of theorizing and research in adult education for several decades (Finger, 1989; Foley, 1999; Hall, 2006; Hall, Clover, Crowther, & Scandrett, 2013; Hall & Turray, 2006; Holst, 2002). Some of the first theorizing on social movement learning (SML) appeared in the Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ), starting in the late 1980s. This early work debated the nature of “Old” versus “New” social movements as learning sites (Finger, 1University

of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Corresponding Author: Pierre Walter, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, 6445 University Boulevard, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada. Email: pierre.walter@ubc.ca


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