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CALL FOR PAPERS

Intimacy of Lifelong Learning, a Social Issue

A seminar

10-11 July 2008 in Essen/ Germany

The subjective dimension of learning, that is the continuous or discontinuous, thus complex, construction of one’s self, could be observed in many areas: from the growing individuation of life course and recognition of experiential learning to the raising demand for taking into account personal aspiration in the planning by organizations of adult learning and training (ALT). The recent acknowledgment of psychological harassment at work place is pointing in the same direction represents a similar concern for the subjective dimension of work; moreover, in most of its indicators, psychological harassment at work place precisely depicts the inversed reality of a true learning organization. And this emerging recognition of intimacy of learning is going to alter profoundly and tends already to transform the social demand for adult learning and training (ALT) both at work and in non work related contexts. Because education and learning normally refer to acquisition and mobilization of knowledge and skills, the subjective dimension of this process as a continuous and complex construction of one’s self tends often to be disregarded. Yet, once recognized, this crucial dimension is transforming the very social dimension of lifelong learning projects and policies.

1. The raising awareness of the intimacy of learning

We invite contributions to explore the raising awareness of the intimacy of learning through recent trends and practices:

- Individuation of life course and biographical perspective

- Recognition of experiential learning,

- The phenomenon of moral harassment at work place, as a paradoxical revelator of the intimate dimension of a true learning organization,

- The notion of learning in the new social movements

- ...

2. The intimacy of learning, a social issue

We solicit contributions to look at the possible social impact of such trend:

- Alteration of the learning demand at workplace and of its mediation,

- The revisited notion of active citizenship and the subjective dimension of “diffuse capacity for initiative,”

- …

3. The lifelong learning dialectical process

The dominant cognitive perspective, focusing on the mastering of socially required knowledge and skills, tends to disregard the intimacy of learning on which it relies. At the same time, the current individualist drift conceals the collective and socially active character of learning throughout life, while the sustainability of such learning is related to its individualization. We propose, in this third part, to explore the dialectical relation between two poles of the lifelong learning dialectical processes: its biographicity and its sociality

- Bibliogaphical research and active life transition in society of incertitude,

- Mediation, at workplace, of the learning and training demand, the tension between the organizational and the subjective requests,

- The individualizierung character of reflexive society,

- Economic productivity and the autonomy of the productive actor,

- …

We invite to propose papers for one of the above mentioned papers. Please send a short abstract of (at least 1000 characters) of you contribution and show in this how your paper contributes to the topic. We warmly invite colleagues from all over the world to present papers.

Please send you abstracts until 26th May 2008 to the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Beside the presentation on the seminar, we intend to publish a book with the presented papers.

Further information (about registration, accommodation, traveling to Essen) will be provided at the end of May 2008.

Email: paul.belanger@uni-due.de
regina.egetenmeyer@uni-due.de
Tel.: ++49 (0) 201/183-3570 or -4529
Fax.: ++49 (0) 201/183-3175