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This paper explores liberation movement theory from educational and historical standpoints. Liberation movement theory is defined as a theory in which the oppressed seek personal, political, and social development through freedom from domination. In this paper, liberation, non-formal education, and popular education are learning theories that are viewed from the lenses of Paulo Freire and Amílcar Cabral. The more specific focus is Latin American liberation movement theory with emphasis on Guatemala (Latin America) and Guinea-Bissau (Africa). Historically, both Guatemala and Guinea-Bissau have been heavily involved in the liberation movement using various strategies of non-formal learning and popular education. Paulo Freire and Amílcar Cabral operationalized these strategies in the 20th century. This paper further explores the Latin American liberation movement of the twentieth century as it relates to education for liberation in order to deeply engage in how and why marginalized groups learn what they value as an education, and what they constitute as an education that liberates. This paper concludes with a comparison of both Guatemala and Guinea-Bissau to analyze how these nation-states have contemporarily operationalized liberation movement theory, and to explore if the tenets of this theory have promoted contemporary education for democratic participation in Guatemala and Guinea-Bissau. [For the full proceedings, see ED597456.]

Located along the U.S. Mexico border, colonias are unincorporated areas with no building codes, city taxes, or infrastructure. Most colonia residents live in poverty. Involving rural colonia residents from Hildago County, Texas, in a concerted effort to solve their problems became a central focus for a task force of educational and social reformers. All agreed that a community resource center was needed where colonia residents could meet, discuss community needs, and implement strategies to improve their living conditions. Such centers provide a place for community service workshops, instruction in English and citizenship, GED classes, student tutorial and computer assistance, boys and girls club activities, federal/state health and social service clinics, and empowerment of rural citizens. The task force visited a nearby community center similar to what they envisioned and then trained colonia residents who were actively involved in their communities as group facilitators. At subsequent meetings, these facilitators helped colonia residents identify their three most important needs, select representatives for the community center, focus on community-centered planning, and feel that they each had a part to play. The facilitators were instrumental in generating community support and ownership of the project. The idea caught the imagination of many individuals, organizations, and politicians who committed funding, land, and services to the project. The task force turned decision-making power over to a board elected from colonia residents. The center has taken tangible form and is now in the architectural phase. (TD)

These proceedings contain 102 papers, 32 roundtables, and 5 symposia. Among the papers are "Weathered by Their Experiences" (Aiken); "Politics of Knowledge and Theory Construction in Adult Education (AE)" (Alfred); "Self-Directed Learning as a Political Act" (Andruske); "All Things Bold and Beautiful" (Armstrong); "Violence Against Women" (Baird); "Learning to Unlearn White Supremacist Consciousness" (Barlas et al.); "Ontology at Work" (Beckett, Morris); "Adult Literacy Classroom as a Social System" (Beder et al.); "Action Research on Documenting Learner Outcomes" (Bingman); "Voices from the Deep" (Boshier); "Contesting Criticality" (Brookfield); "Making Mathematics Come Alive" (Brown, Uhde); "Telling Stories and Creating Participatory Audience" (Butterwick, Selman); "Motivation in AE" (Carre); "Researchers as Co-Learners" (Castleden, Kurszewski); "Women's Development at the Margins" (Clark); "Road Map or Mosaic" (Daley); "One Year After Enrollment in Literacy Programs" (Ebert, Bingman); "Lifelong Learning" (Edwards, Usher); "Interdictions & Benedictions--AIDS Prevention Discourses in Vancouver, Canada" (Egan); "Is the Learning Organization for Real?" (Ellinger et al.); "Women Crafting New Work" (Fenwick, Hutton); "Leadership for Adult and Continuing Education (ACE)" (Fleming, Caffarella); "AE in the End of the Century" (Fragoso, Lucio-Villegas); "Research That Hurts or Research That Helps?" (Gorman); "Feminine Pedagogies and Graduate Adult and Higher Education for Women Students" (Gouthro, Grace); "Modern Practice of Canadian and US Academic AE During the Brief American Century (1945-73)" (Grace); "Extension and Grassroots Educators' Approaches to Participatory Education" (Grudens-Schuck); "Factors Influencing Active Learning in Small Enterprises" (Hawke); "Low-Income African American Women's Cultural Models of Work" (Hayes, Way); "Rethinking Violence and Learning" (Heald, Horsman); "Unpaid Piper Calls the Tune" (Heaney); "Global Consciousness of Human Resource Development and Organization Development Practitioners" (Hill); "Menacing Feminism, Educating Students" (Hill); "Life Situations and Institutional Supports of Women University Students with Family and Job Responsibilities" (Home, Hinds); "Wyrd Questions" (Hunt); "Edge of Empire" (Hunt); "Researching Adult Learners' Reading Histories and Practices" (Jarvis); "Race and AE" (Johnson-Bailey, Cervero); "Towards a Generic Approach to Assessment in ACE" (Jones); "Educational Technology That Transforms" (King); "Mediating Meaning-Making" (Kritskaya, Dirkx); "Comparison of National Education and Training Cultures" (Kuhn); "Critical Autobiography of Moral Learning Across Four Generations of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union" (Lander); "Beyond Transformative Learning" (Lange); "Training and the New Industrial Relations" (Law, Piercy); "Refocusing Faculty Development" (Lawler, King); "Constructing Pedagogic Identities" (Malcolm, Zukas); "Adult Learner-Centered Institutions" (Mancuso); "Reconstituting the Agora" (Martin); "Questioning Research as a Contextual Practice" (McIntyre, Solomon); "Lifelong Learning Goes to the Movies" (Miller); "Ever Widening Gyre" (Milton et al.);"Models of Community Development Practice" (Moore, Hill); "Promise--and Peril--of Web-Based Course Delivery in ACE" (Mott); "Aging and Learning in a Non-Western Culture" (Muhamad, Merriam); "Transformation Toward What End?" (Narushima); "Cultures of Teaching" (Nesbit); "Control, Learning, and Resistance" (Newman); "Lifelong Learning as Metaphor" (Nicoll); "Lessons from Central America" (Nolan); "Cultivating Imagination in AE" (Norman); "Botswana Rural Women's Transition to Urban Small Business Success" (Ntseane); "Role of AE and Skills Training in Promoting Planned Change and Localization" (Odoch); "Postmodern Morality in AE" (Plumb); "'When You Act Like an Adult, I'll Treat You Like One...'" (Pomerantz, Benjamin); "Teaching Perspectives Inventory" (Pratt, Collins); "Making the Curriculum Culturally Relevant" (Preece); "La Tertulia" (Puigvert et al.); "Introducing the Community Development Concept in the Ukraine" (Pyrch); "Beyond Participation and Stereotypes" (Quigley); "Researching the Implementation of Work-Based Learning Within Higher Education" (Reeve, Gallacher); "Research Neoliberal Reforms in Child Protection Agencies" (Reich); "Literacy and Attitudes" (Ribeiro); and "Making Assumptions" (Rocco). (YLB)

This study, part of a larger research project, explored the knowledge of the general population regarding cloning. It also sought to determine where people gather information on cloning. Such awareness of the general public's knowledge of important scientific topics and sources from which people retrieve information can help scientific and educational communities develop strategies that foster scientific literacy among the public. The sample population contained 156 individuals, 76.3% of which were associated with a college or university. Several themes emerged from the study. First, most people realize their knowledge about cloning is limited and inadequate for making informed decisions about it. Second, most people were not able to define cloning completely, especially in words or terms that they were comfortable using. Third, few people were able to relate cloning to all its applications and uses. Fourth, most people were unsure if they used products developed or made from cloning technology. The most frequently reported source of information was television news and magazines; however, in followup interviews, respondents cited libraries and the Internet as resources for the most factual information. Contains 21 references. (PVD)

This study, part of a larger research project, explored the knowledge and attitudes of the general population regarding cloning. Such awareness of the general public's knowledge of important science topics, attitudes toward such topics, and sources from which people retrieve information can help scientific and educational communities develop strategies that foster higher levels of scientific literacy among the public. The sample population contained 156 individuals, 76.3% of which were associated with a college or university. Twenty-five occupations were represented including teachers and students. Results indicated four themes: (1) attitudes toward cloning were not correlated to gender; (2) occupation and academic association were strongly correlated to attitudes; (3) respondents were concerned about cloning and comments indicate that this pattern may be grounded in a concern about control rather than the need for more research; and (4) respondents who felt that more research was needed had a significantly negative correlation to attitudes toward research on animals, human cells, and bacteria. Likert Scale responses are included in the appendix. Contains 30 references. (PVD)

This document contains seven papers about and from the International Seminar on Women's Education and Empowerment, which was convened to give women educators and researchers from diverse sociocultural backgrounds an opportunity to examine collectively different education practices and their theoretical implications for empowering women. The following papers are included: "Preface" (Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo); "The International Seminar on Women's Education and Empowerment" (Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo, Bettina Bochynek); "The Theoretical and Practical Bases for Empowerment" (Nelly P. Stromquist); "Some Reflections on the Empowerment of Women" (Lucita Lazo); "Women's Literacy and Empowerment: The Nellore Experience" (Anita Dighe); "The Organization of American States Multinational Project on Education and Work: An Experience of Popular Education for Women's Empowerment in Colombia" (Miryan Zuniga E.); "Educate to Empower: An Asian Experience" (Namtip Aksornkool); and "Thinking about Women and Literacy: Support and Challenge" (Jenny Horsman). A list of seminar participants is also included. Several papers contain bibliographies. (MN)

This document reports on a health promotion divisional workshop on popular education (PE) that was conducted to teach health promoters/educators to use PE methodology to analyze their educational work and role as health promoters and to learn to apply PE methodology during the health promotion activities. Information on the history and characteristics of PE is presented along with a model for a health promotion divisional workshop. The model, which was based on PE methodology, includes three steps: action (determining the tenets and role of health promotion), reflection (deepening analysis of the health promotion process), and action (developing plans for application of PE methodology). Each step is illustrated through case studies. This document contains information on the history of PE, the workshop planning model, and the case studies. Appended are a summary of comments/suggestions regarding the workshop, tips for planning workshops, a 35-item resource list, names/addresses of the workshop participants, and descriptions of participatory techniques for use in conducting workshops. Among the techniques outlined are exercises for helping participants get to know one another, energizing discussion groups, and identifying and analyzing common problems. (MN)

Government policies of developing nations to stimulate economic development do not necessarily improve the living conditions of their citizens, most of whom are economically poor and politically powerless. A major criticism of attempts by most Western and national governments to promote development is that they serve only the elite. This study of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) discusses the limitations and potential of a popular education movement in India. The KSSP, which translates into "Kerala Science Literature Society," was begun in 1962 to make scientific knowledge available to the people in the language of the state. Growth in membership has been accompanied by an increasing involvement with left-wing political activists. Dilemmas facing the KSSP are conflicts between Marxist and middle-class leadership over definition of "the people" and "science" and the relationship of science to religion and to the state. Lessons that can be learned from the KSSP movement demonstrate: the importance of an independent, sufficient financial base; leadership dedication to original objectives; a large "critical mass" of volunteers; less organizational hierarchy; recruitment of the elite; alliance with other organizations; and utilization of the arts as information disseminators. Despite its problems, the KSSP provides an innovative, indigenous model for mass educational reform. (LMI)

Popular education issues in Latin America--particularly issues manifested in work with women--are examined. Observations are based on work with health education projects in Chile and a regional community organizing program in Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, as well as research into the impact of popular education programs on Latin American women overall. The case study of Nicaragua was selected to determine to what extent a similar pattern of tensions exists. The six tensions discussed are: (1) methodology vs. content; (2) micro- vs. macro-level focus; (3) reinforcing traditional gender roles or altering them; (4) women-only vs. mixed groups; (5) alternative sector vs. work within the system; and (6) quality vs. quantity. Popular education in Nicaragua is tied to a national political project that aims at the transformation of society. The impact of popular education programs is discussed on an individual level, group level, national level, and the macro level. (24 references) (SI)

This document contains selected papers and findings of a conference that was held at South Africa's University of the Western Cape to discuss strategies to organize for democracy in the Western Cape. Presented in section 1 are the opening remarks of Bulelani Ncguka, Jakes Gerwel, Shirley Walters and the following papers: "South Africa from the 1980s into the 1990s: Organising for Democracy" (Murphy Morobe); "Overview of the Western Cape" (Graeme Bloch); "Summary of Report-Backs from Theme Workshops" (Trevor Manuel); "State Strategy" (Andrew Merrifield); "Negotiations" (Tony Karon); "City Politics: Soweto" (Kehla Shubane); "Constitutional Guidelines" (Willie Hofmeyer); and "Labour and Economic Alternatives" (Howard Gabriels). Section 2 contains summaries of the 19 conference theme workshops, which dealt with such topics as the following: Western Cape economy; health concerns; uprooting poverty in the Western Cape; challenges in the educational sphere; welfare in transition; the cultural movement and recent demographic changes in the Western Cape; relationship between the political economy and ecology; squatter and housing struggles; AIDS; worker-controlled cooperatives; adult education; literacy for democracy; mission of the church; and computers for transformation. Outlined in section 3 is a method for getting people actively involved in the political process. Appended are the African National Congress' constitutional guidelines. (MN)

The following are among the 104 papers included: "Vocational Education and Training Partnerships in Remote Aboriginal Communities" (Arnott, Dembski); "Participation in Adult Education" (Benn); "Learning Organisations" (Bierema); "A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Institutional Dynamics Involved in a University's Response to an Allegation of Racism" (Bishop); "An Analysis and Critique of Transformation Theory and Adult Learning" (Boucouvalas); "Research in Adult Learning" (Brew); "Reforming Australian Education and Training" (Brown); "Challenging Metrocentrism" (Butler); "Life at the Glass Ceiling" (Caffarella, Clark, Ingram); "Crossing Borders and Breaking Boundaries" (Cavanagh); "Learning as a Non-unitary Self" (Clark); "New Education Policy Directions in South Africa" (Cooper); "Globalisation and a Pedagogy of (Dis)location" (Edwards, Usher); "Learning to Learn" (Ettling, Hayes); "Postgraduate Education and Adult Education" (Ferrier); "The Significance of African-American Language and Learning in an Adult Education Context" (Flowers, Sheared); "Intimate Cultures of Learning" (Fraser, West); "Technologies of Compliance in Training" (Garrick, Solomon); "Learning Trajectories" (Gorard et al.); "The Political/Economic Boundary of Adult and Continuing Education" (Grosjean); "Crossing Borders in Research in Adult Education" (Hake); "The Practice of Guidance in an Employee Development Programme" (Harrison); "Demand and Supply of Adult Education and Training" (Houtkoop); "Beyond Facilitation in Adult Education" (Johnson-Bailey, Cervero); "Epistemology of Groups as Learning Systems" (Kasl, Marsick); "Vocational Education and Really Useful Knowledge" (Kilminster); "Is There a Boundary between Formal and Nonmoral Education?" (Kilpatrick); "Identifying Groups of Learners through the Use of Learning Strategies" (Kolody, Conti, Lockwood); "Understanding Adult Student Learning Using Theories of Academic Literacy" (Lea); "Working Class Culture, Adult Education and Informal Learning" (Livingstone); "Action-Based Research" (Lucas, Davies, Cochrane); "Restructuring Adult Education" (McIntyre); "Afri-centricity" (Mashengele); "Boundaries and Quality" (Millar); "Challenging Boundaries in Adult and Higher Education through Technological Innovation" (Miller, Leung, Kennedy); "Minority Women at the Iron Borders of Academe" (Mojab); "Research Findings on the Effectiveness of Guided Imagery/Visualisation as a Technique in the Facilitation of Transformative Learning" (Morton); "Workers as Learners and Learners as Workers" (Payne); and "On Formal, Non-formal Lifelong Learning" (Percy). (MN)

This paper analyzes my attempt to begin a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project with organizations dedicated to social change in Chiapas, Mexico during my year of dissertation fieldwork. I describe my original theoretical postulates about PAR, and examine their usefulness in the context of my collaboration with social movement organizations and popular educators in Chiapas. I reflect on the processes of selecting collaborators, trust-building, defining questions and research relationships, and developing cycles of reflection and action. The experience highlights challenges of conducting PAR as a student from the US in the context of polarized state-society relations following the Zapatista uprising. The project initiated is to reflect on popular education programs including a government initiative by the Secretary of Rural Development and programs in two networks of civil organizations: a network of anti-neoliberal organizations and a network of organic coffee cooperatives. At workshops, I participated and observed power dynamics and patterns about knowledge construction. Leaders received my critical reflections as an input for their own evaluations. Although this PAR experience was restricted by social and political dynamics and the logistical confines of dissertation fieldwork, I point to ways that this year of relationship-building and collaborative reflection may make possible further action and collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]