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\nVolume 48, Number 2, July 2008  \nThe ‘accidental activist’: learning, embodiment and action  \nTracey Ollis School of Education Victoria University  \nThe 21st century has seen renewed interest in activism, community development and social change globally (Kenny 2006). This paper outlines the educational significance of the learning practices of activists as they engage within and against the state. In an era of adult education which emphasises lifelong learning and learning in the workplace, this article explores the holistic practices of activists as they learn from one another in a social context or ‘on the job’. Adult activists act with agency, their learning ispurposive; it is resolute and they are there and act for a reason. This learning isnot only cognitive but also embodied; it is learning often associated with the emotions of passion, anger, desire and a commitment to social change. Drawing on current research in Australia, attention is given to an important but at times forgotten epistemology of adult learning.  \nRadical adult education  \nLearning through social action belongs to a discourse of‘emancipatory learning’,‘social purpose education’,‘critical pedagogy’and ‘radical adult education’. As a body of knowledge it is also broadly referred to as ‘popular education’. The term ‘radical adult education’describes how people both individually and collectively learn through their engagement with community development activities or by their participation in social movements (Foley 1999, Horton & Freire 1990, Jesson & Newman 2004, Newman 1994, 2006) . Jesson and Newman (2004) state “learning in the sense we use here means learning by people acting collectively to bring about radical and emancipatory social change”(Jesson & Newman 2004: 251). For the purpose of this article, the term radical adult education will be used to describe this way of learning.  \nRadical adult education is a tradition in the field of adult education which encompasses community development activity, activism and advocacy of social change (Foley 1999, Jesson & Newman 2004, Mayo 1999, Newman 2006). Branagan and Boughton (2003) argue that in Australia the study of learning in activism continues to be in its formative years and has only recently been recognised as ‘real’ adult education (p. 347). Activism is a process whereby individuals act to have an impact on significant social change. It generally requires some resistance toward state apparatus or state systems. Couch (2004) provides us with a broad definition of activism:  \nA role assumed by individuals or collective actors either to resist what they consider to be a political wrong or to bring about political change, through contained or transgressive tactics, excluding political violence. An activist may therefore be a member of a social movement, popular struggle, trade union, collective, network, NGO, or civic or religious organisation, a scholar or student, or an individual unaffiliated with any group.(p. 15)  \n318 Tracey Ollis The ‘accidental activist’: learning, embodiment and action 319  \nYet the pedagogy of activism has a long history in Australia, among which are the Marxist or workers’ education groups of the twentieth century who came together to inform workers of their rights relating to employment and work (Boughton 2005). This was defined by the workers’ education programs of the ‘Marxist Schools’ run by the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) . These workers’ education groups brought together people from a variety of backgrounds to discuss workers rights and social justice issues. This formal yet underground pedagogy was based on nineteenth century Chartism influenced at the time by the International Communist Party (Boughton 2005). As Boughton (2005) argues, the tradition ofworker education in the socialist and communist movements operated from the late nineteenth century until the ","cbCaitg7eucWpehv","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitg7eucWpehv","pdf",193986,"English","# The ‘accidental activist’: learning, embodiment and action\n## Radical adult education\n## Learning through social action and activism\n## Workers’ education and women’s consciousness raising groups","[{\"question\":\"What is the central focus of the article?\",\"answer\":\"The article focuses on the educational significance of activists’ learning practices as they engage within and against the state.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper define learning in activist contexts?\",\"answer\":\"Learning is described as purposive and agentic, involving both cognitive and embodied dimensions, often connected to strong emotions and a commitment to social change.\"},{\"question\":\"Which traditions and examples of radical adult education are discussed?\",\"answer\":\"The paper discusses learning through social action within emancipatory learning and radical adult education, including workers’ education associated with Marxist schools and women’s consciousness raising groups influenced by radical and socialist feminism.\"}]","The ‘accidental activist’: learning, embodiment and action | PDF",1792077248,25]