Hal Adams was a legendary radical educator who organized writing workshops with people who had been written off during much of their lives, marginalized for reasons of race, gender, class, and caste. Hal detested the carelessness and neglect his students endured and set about building spaces of respect and reparation. Fostering communities of local writers and publishing their work in journals of "ordinary thought," the work brought pride and dignity to the authors, carrying the wisdom of their narratives into and beyond their communities. In the traditions of Paulo Freire, Antonio Gramsci, and C.L.R. James, Hal based his approach on the conviction that every person is a philosopher, artist, and storyteller, and that only the insights and imaginings of the oppressed can sow seeds of authentic social change. Every Person Is a Philosopher gathers essays by classroom and community educators deeply influenced by Hal's educational work and vision, and several essays by Hal Adams. They explore diverse ways this humanizing pedagogy can be applied in a wide range of contexts, and consider its potential to transform students and teachers alike. This is an ideal text for courses in educational foundations, multicultural education, urban studies, sociology of education, English education, social justice education, literacy education, socio-cultural contexts of teaching, adult education, cultural studies, schools and communities, and popular education.

Hal Adams was a legendary radical educator who organized writing workshops with people who had been written off during much of their lives, marginalized for reasons of race, gender, class, and caste. Hal detested the carelessness and neglect his students endured and set about building spaces of respect and reparation. Fostering communities of local writers and publishing their work in journals of "ordinary thought," the work brought pride and dignity to the authors, carrying the wisdom of their narratives into and beyond their communities. In the traditions of Paulo Freire, Antonio Gramsci, and C.L.R. James, Hal based his approach on the conviction that every person is a philosopher, artist, and storyteller, and that only the insights and imaginings of the oppressed can sow seeds of authentic social change. Every Person Is a Philosopher gathers essays by classroom and community educators deeply influenced by Hal's educational work and vision, and several essays by Hal Adams. They explore diverse ways this humanizing pedagogy can be applied in a wide range of contexts, and consider its potential to transform students and teachers alike. This is an ideal text for courses in educational foundations, multicultural education, urban studies, sociology of education, English education, social justice education, literacy education, socio-cultural contexts of teaching, adult education, cultural studies, schools and communities, and popular education.

Contested Spaces is an edited collection of critical ethnographies that examine the educational experiences of adults as cultural practice. These practices take place in diverse settings -- from the formal and subtly negotiated educational contexts of school classrooms, parent or adult education programs; to the institutionally interstitial realms of a worker training program, Bible study class, prison yoga class, or refugee resettlement program; to fluid and explicitly contested everyday spaces: an LGBTQ choir, a public parade, or Latinx cultural programming.The compilation includes twelve richly rendered case studies written from the perspective of “practitioner-ethnographers” -- individuals who straddle the roles of educator and ethnographic researcher. A central premise of the book is that, even as the terrain of adult education is increasingly infused with the aims and ideologies of neoliberal capital, participants in specific educational programs and activities are continuously forging educational alternatives to neoliberal education. Each chapter examines educative practices that either directly contest conventions of adult teaching and learning, and/or subtly challenge conventional ways of understanding the practices of adult teaching and learning. Drawing on distinct theoretical framings, each author illuminates the ways in which adults engaged in teaching and learning participate in cultural practices that necessarily intersect with other dimensions of social life, such as work, recreation, community engagement, personal development, or political action. By juxtaposing ethnographic inquiries of formal and informal learning spaces, as well as intentional and unintended challenges to mainstream adult teaching and learning, Contested Spaces provides new understandings and critical insights into the complexities of adults’ educative experiences.