Restorative practices can serve as a proactive approach to address behavior in a way that not only repairs harm and restores relationships, but also creates stronger communities. Using a circle-style conversation to elicit our perceptions of the potential of these practices to support and advance liberatory principles, we sought to uncover the…

This article focuses on the PeaceJam Foundation Ambassadors Curriculum, analyzing how its content and structure align with a Transformative Human Rights Education (THRE) approach. A THRE approach centers on creating social change and encourages youth to analyze structures and conditions that lead to injustice. It embraces emancipatory learning…

The notions of indigenous knowledge and cultural philosophies are becoming ubiquitous in many social inquiries, and evaluation is no exception. Nonetheless, the pursuit to embed relevant indigenous philosophies in contemporary evaluation has yet to succeed. In this article, we discuss indigenous relational philosophies, approaches, and practices…

Drawing inspiration from Dr. Ada Long's (1995) presidential address, the authors describe an experience that facilitates neighborhood-building among honors educators and students across the nation as well as a neighborhood approach to understanding social problems. Focusing on food justice in the first year of the Justice Challenge, honors…

Purpose: This study aims at understanding how higher education institutions (HEIs) can contribute to sustainable development, by designing their programmes for bringing about a transformative impact on communities and students, and also to examine what alternative pedagogical approaches could be used for that. In the past decades, HEIs have…

In the 1970s and 1980s, the social and professional imaginaries of education, sociopolitical conceptions of it, and educational practices in Spain, began to be influenced by certain elements specific to critical popular education, which had developed in Latin America during the "long 1960s." Paulo Freire's work was particularly prominent…

Much attention has been given to the theory and practice of global citizenship education (GCE). In this article, drawing from an emerging body of literature that examines GCE through a postcolonial lens, we offer a Freirean critical reading of how GCE intersects with ideologies of globalization. We argue that GCE discourse privileges certain…

Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with alumni from three institutions, the authors of this qualitative study explore the contours and desires of political engagement postgraduation. Giving credit to their respective community engagement programs, alumni illustrate their enduring commitments to civic and political action by participating…

The introduction and implementation of ICT depends not only on technological issues but also on social and institutional factors. To respond to these challenges, in this article we describe our engagement with an ICT4D research case conducted in collaboration with the Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) of the non-governmental organization (NGO)…

People assume that development means quantitative growth, whereas its main characteristic is qualitative change. To develop is to grow, and to grow means becoming more complex and stronger. An Economist may see development as only an increase in wealth or income (absolute or per capita); an Engineer may see development as greater control over…

Community engagement has evolved as a respected field and now occupies a seat at the academic table. In the past, this work had often been relegated to the institutional fringes of higher education, its practitioners marginalized, and the work often portrayed as service, not scholarly. Today, higher education community engagement is a dynamic and…

Actualizing education beyond the scope of traditional schooling and incorporating elements of critical pedagogy and social transformation are essential for efforts aiming to reduce inequalities and enhance the livelihoods of excluded populations. This article examines emancipatory education through a Freirean lens by considering its dimensions of…

Fehrman and Schutz contend that the fine balance between having students experience real-world obstacles to social change and having them learn how to navigate around those obstacles can be achieved by having adults both pre-select community action projects that are both possible and meaningful to ensure a modicum of success, and jump in and…

This paper explores the informal and social learning dimensions of activists as they learn skills and knowledge through participating in social action. In doing this I draw on Lave and Wenger's epistemology of situated learning and Bourdieu's theory of "habitus". I argue activists learn an array of community development skills in the…

Youth organizing combines elements of community organizing, with its emphasis on ordinary people working collectively to advance shared interests, and positive youth development, with its emphasis on asset-based approaches to working with young people. It is expanding from an innovative, but marginal approach to youth and community development…