Connecting Californians
Finding the Art of Community Change
An Inquiry into the role of story in strengthening communities

Appendix F

Bibliography: Popular Education

Books, Articles and Media

Adams, Frank T., James A. Dombrowski: An American Heretic, 1897-1983 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992). A biography of the civil-rights activist , teacher, organizer, fundraiser, pamphleteer and administrator in controversial causes. Dombrowski was vilified by racists and Red-baiting politicians, but the ordeal gained him a lasting place in American legal history. In Dombrowski v. Pfister, the Supreme Court ruled that Dombrowski's 1963 arrest for subversion had "a chilling effect" on his First Amendment rights. The decision has been cited more than 1,300 times in defense of civil rights and liberties.

Adams, Frank T., with Myles Horton, Unearthing the Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander (Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, 1975). A comprehensive history of the work of popular educator and activist Myles Horton (1905-1990). Horton was founder in 1932 (with Don West) of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee as a training center for southern labor and Farmer's Union members, and as a meeting place for black and white civil-rights workers. Its advocacy of racial equality prompted the state to revoke its charter in 1962. It reorganized as the Highlander Research and Education Center, giving ongoing support to the civil-rights movement and promoting a multiracial poor-people's coalition. It continues to collaborate with grassroots leaders and community groups to help bring about social change through collective action.

Boff, Leonard, and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1987). An introduction for the general reader to liberation theology, its main themes and challenges, its roots in Latin America and its reverberations worldwide. Their basic question: "How to be Christians in a world of destitution?"

Brown, Cynthia Stokes, ed., Ready from Within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement (Navarro, Calif.: Wild Trees Press, 1986, 1990). Written from Stokes’ interviews with the South Carolina civil-rights activist, who was involved in the Citizenship Schools (which trained black adults to read and write in order to be eligible to vote) and later the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Bruner, Jerome, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1987). Essays by the cognitive psychologist, illustrating liberal approaches to the development of the human mind. Posits that the mind is equipped with two modes of cognitive processing, the one paradigmatic (designed to develop propositions subject to empirical test) and the other narrative (designed to comprehend and develop stories).

Coles, Robert, The Call of Stories (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1990). A study by the noted child psychiatrist of how listening to stories promotes learning and self-discovery. "The whole point of stories," Coles observes, "is not 'solutions' or 'resolutions,' but a broadening and even heightening of our struggles."

Coles, Robert, Doing Documentary Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Three lectures by Coles illustrating that documentary work is a narrative constructed by the observer and is meant not only to represent "reality," but inevitably to interpret it. Utilizing the documentaries of writers, photographers and filmmakers, Coles shows how their prose and pictures are influenced by the observers' frame of reference: their social and educational background, personal morals and political beliefs.

Cvetovich, Ann, and Kellner, Douglas, Articulating the Global and the Local (Boulder, Westview Press, 1997). Highlights the importance of culture and provides models for a cultural studies that addresses globalization and the dialectic of local and global forces. The essays explore a variety of local, national, and transnational contexts with particular attention to race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.

Friere, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Seabury Press, 1968). Classic text by the late Brazilian educator, discussing liberation as self-achievement, education as a mutual process and as the practice of freedom, dialogics and antidialogics as opposing theories of cultural action. New edition forthcoming from Continuum International in October 2000, with new introduction by Friere.

Friere, Paulo, Education for Critical Consciousness. (New York: Seabury Press, 1973). Two major Friere studies on social "helping' relationships," developed as the result of the author’s efforts in the field of adult literacy in Brazil and his studies of the practice of agricultural extension in Chile.

Friere, Paulo, Pedagogy in Process (New York: Continuum, 1983). The result of Friere's experience as advisor to the revolutionary government of Guinea-Bissau in the mid-1970s.

Friere, Paulo, Letters to Christina: Reflections on My Life and Work, (New York: Routledge, 1996). Friere presents his life story in the form of epistles to his niece. He looks back on his childhood and youth, his life as an intellectual, his long exile from Brazil, and educational and political issues.

Gaventa, John, Power and Powerlessness (Urbana, Chicago, London: University of Illinois Press, 1980). An exploration of power, quiescence and rebellion in the Appalachian coal fields, providing insight into the conflicts between the financial interests of the region's coal and land companies and the moral and cultural rights of the resident mountain people.

Giroux, Henry, Theory and Resistance in Education: A Pedagogy for the Opposition (Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, 1983). An attempt to relate the concept of resistance to the idea of radical pedagogy. Giroux uses concepts such as ideology, culture and power to clarify how schools and education serve the interests of a select few in society

Glen, John, Highlander, No Ordinary School (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1996). Updates Highlander's story through the 1990s, detailing the school's recent work in Appalachia, its efforts to bring international grassroots groups together on common issues, and its support of emerging economic and environmental-justice campaigns.

Gramsci, Antonio, and Quintin Hoare, G. Nowell-Smith, editors, Selections from the Prison Notebooks. (Columbia University Press, 1971). Key writings by the 20th Century Italian Marxist, a founder of the Italian Communist Party. Jailed by Mussolini, he spent the last decade of his life in prison. Written between 1929-1935, the book includes observations on the state and civil society, Italian history and the role of intellectuals.

Greenwood, Davydd J., and Morten Levin,. Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1998). Introduces the history, philosophy, social change agenda, methodologies, ethical arguments for and fieldwork tools for action research. Provides newcomers with an overview of various approaches and an understanding of the complexities of the intellectual and political streams that feed into AR.

Guttmann, Amy, Democratic Education (Princeton: Princeton University Press. revised edition, 1999). A democratic theory of education, discussing who should have the authority to shape the education of citizens in a democracy. Tackles issues from the democratic case against book banning to the role of teachers' unions in education, as well as public support for private schools and affirmative action in college admissions.

Hope, Ann, and Sally Trimmel, Training for Transformation: A Handbook for Community Workers (Volume 1-3) (Harare, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1984). A three-part workbook series with theories, codes, exercises and illustrations for developing critical awareness in poor communities and for building solidarity in people's movements.

Horton, Myles, and Paulo Friere, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990). Captures the spirit and thought of the two progressive educators in dialogue about their belief that ordinary men and women can learn to control over their own destinies and create democratic justice.

Horton, Myles with Judith and Herb Kohl, The Long Haul: An Autobiography (New York: Doubleday, 1990). The founder of the Highlander Center discusses his life and career.

Kohl, Herbert, The Discipline of Hope; Learning from a Lifetime of Teaching, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998). The well-known educational theorist and practitioner discusses how learning takes place in the widest range of circumstances, both in and out of a formal school setting. "The discipline of hope" is Kohl's stubborn refusal to accept limits on what students can learn or what teachers can do by helping them discover the power of their minds.

Lappé, Francis Moore, and Paul Martin Du Bois, The Quickening of America: Rebuilding our Nation, Remaking Our Lives (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1994). Challenges myths about democracy, public life, self-interest and power. Describes experiments in practical democratic problem solving and building a "culture of democracy" through skills for use in groups or one-on-one interactions. and for use in groups.

Lewis, Helen M., et al., Picking Up the Pieces (New Market, TN: Highlander Research and Education Center, 1986). Developed from a workshop held at the Highlander Center in New Market, Tenn., in 1984. Thirty women, black, white and Native American, came from ten communities throughout the South to discuss their problems and share what they are doing about them.

Macedo, Donaldo, Literacies of Power: What Americans Are not Allowed to Know (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994). Challenging conservatives like Allan Bloom and E. D. Hirsch, Macedo (a Cape Verdean immigrant from West Africa ) describes the U.S. educational system as one that stifles critical thinking in favor of indoctrination and specialization. Shows why so-called common culture literacy is a form of dominant-cultural reproduction that undermines independent thought and goes against the best interests of students.

Marino, Dian, Wild Garden: Art, Education, and the Culture of Resistance (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1997). Writings and personal reflections, art and graphic images, practical exercises, and teaching tools to convey a dynamic approach to participatory learning by the late educator, environmentalist, and political activist.

McKnight, John, The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits, (New York: Basic Books, 1995). Tells how the best efforts to rebuild and revitalize communities are in fact destroying them, with focus on four "counterfeiting" aspects of society: professionalism, medicine, human service systems and the criminal justice system. Celebrates the ability of neighborhoods to heal from within.

McKnight, John, and John Kretzmann, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward FindingaAnd Mobilizing a Community's Assets, (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 1993, 1997). Guide to "asset--based community development" through studies of successful community-building initiatives in the U.S. Outlines how communities can rediscover, map, combine and mobilize their strengths to build stronger, more self--reliant and powerful communities, and how "outsiders" can contribute.

Merrifield, Juliet, et al, We’re Tired of Being Guinea Pigs! A Handbook for Citizens on Environmental Health in Appalachia. (New Market, Tennessee: Highlander Research and Education Center, 1980). Guide to citizen-action strategies for dealing with problems of environmental, energy productions, pesticides, chemicals, waste disposal and hazardous substances.

Nadeau, Denise, Counting Our Victories - Popular Education and Organizing: A Training Guide (Vancouver: Repeal the Deal: Media Resources for Mobilization 1996). Two groups of women activists use a variety of popular education methods to raise questions and further their work. Women from Canada, Guatemala and Nicaragua discuss the value of popular education. (Video, 29 min.)

Perrone, Vito, Teacher with a Heart: Reflections on Leonard Covello and Community (New York: Teachers College Press, 1998). Vito Perrone, a senior faculty member at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, reflects on the life of Leonard Covello, who was a teacher and principal in the New York City the first half of the 20^th Century. Includes extended excerpt from Covello's autobiography, The Heart Is the Teacher. First of a series called "Between Teacher and Text," for which editor Herbert Kohl asked educators to "choose a person whose work has been important to them and enter into dialog with that work and by extension with that person."

Shor, Ira, and Paulo Friere,, A Pedagogy for Liberation: Dialogues on Transforming Education (Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 1987). Dialogue between the authors, examining pedagogical ideas ranging from an analysis of the current conservative trends in educational reform to answering questions posed by teachers who would like to become more democratic educators.

Vella, Jane, Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994). Twelve stories illustrating 12 basic principles of adult learning that transcend cultural differences. Includes seeing the learner as decision maker in the learning process, building relationships for open communication, inviting participation by learners in goal setting through needs assessment, honoring cultural perspectives, and realizing the accountability of the teacher to the learners.