Reformers, Activists, Intellectuals, and the Circulation of Knowledge

Civil society movements were key actors in disseminating knowledge, skills, and values to empower groups and individuals in interpreting and sharing their experiences of class, religion, gender, region, race, language, citizenship, and nationality during the differential modernisation of European societies. This volume explores the historical variations in the relationships between organised adult learning, collective and individual emancipation, and social movements in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. The diverse manifestations of collectively organised adult learning were characterised by institutionalised ‘formal’ instruction, non-formal ‘mutual learning’ and informal schemes of ‘self-organised learning’.

The contributions collected here exemplarily span a broad field of diverse historical developments on a national and transnational European level including nationalist movements, and 'völkisch'-national-socialist manifestations.

Barry J. Hake studied Political Science at the Universities of Bristol and Exeter, UK, and holds a PhD in Modern Dutch Studies from the University of Hull. He was a founding member of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA) in 1991 and served as its secretary from 1991 to 2008.

Kirsi Ahonen obtained her PhD from Tampere University, Finland. She has previously worked as a researcher at Tampere University and as an adult education coordinator at the University of Helsinki. She is co-convenor of the ESREA network History of Adult Education and Training in Europe.

Christian H. Stifter studied history and philosophy and obtained his PhD from Vienna University. He is Director of the Austrian Archives for Adult Education, and editor of the journal 'Spurensuche', which specializes in the history of adult education and popular science.