Critical adult education and community organizing: The case of diverse communities in Israel.

Community organizing is an effective approach to face social, economic, and racial injustice at the local level. However, since the 1970s, neoliberal policies, growing social divisions, and political disengagement have challenged community organizing. This study explores the use of critical adult education to address local organizing challenges with diverse and socially excluded communities in Israel. Building on a case of a local partnership to promote inclusive urban development, we analyzed data from interviews, focus groups, and participant observations conducted with activists and paid professionals. The findings suggest that critical education was instrumental in organizing across diversities through three processes: transposing knowledge, disrupting power hierarchies, and negotiating diversity. Critical education was perceived as empowering for activists at the individual-family level and promote change at the local level. However, at the national policy level, limited changes were achieved. The advantages and limitations of critical education for local organizing are discussed.

Exploring Social Justice in Mixed/Divided Cities: From Local to Global Learning.

BACKGROUND: University of Haifa and the University of Maryland, Baltimore faculty developed a parallel binational, interprofessional American-Israeli course which explores social justice in the context of increasing urban, local, and global inequities. OBJECTIVES: This article describes the course's innovative approach to critically examine how social justice is framed in mixed/divided cities from different professional perspectives (social work, health, law). Participatory methods such as photo-voice, experiential learning, and theatre of the oppressed provide students with a shared language and multiple media to express and problematize their own and others' understanding of social (in)justice and to imagine social change. FINDINGS: Much learning about "self" takes place in an immersion experience with "others." Crucial conversations about "the other" and social justice can occur more easily within the intercultural context. In these conversations, students and faculty experience culture as diverse, complex, and personal. CONCLUSIONS: Students and faculty alike found the course personally and professionally transformative. Examination of social justice in Haifa and Baltimore strengthened our appreciation for the importance of context and the value of global learning to provide insights on local challenges and opportunities.