About the Book
Hal Adams was a legendary radical educator who organized writing workshops with people who had been written off during much of their lives, marginalized for reasons of race, gender, class, and caste. Hal detested the carelessness and neglect his students endured and set about building spaces of respect and reparation. Fostering communities of local writers and publishing their work in journals of «ordinary thought, » the work brought pride and dignity to the authors, carrying the wisdom of their narratives into and beyond their communities. In the traditions of Paulo Freire, Antonio Gramsci, and C.L.R. James, Hal based his approach on the conviction that every person is a philosopher, artist, and storyteller, and that only the insights and imaginings of the oppressed can sow seeds of authentic social change. Every Person Is a Philosopher gathers essays by classroom and community educators deeply influenced by Hal's educational work and vision, and several essays by Hal Adams. They explore diverse ways this humanizing pedagogy can be applied in a wide range of contexts, and consider its potential to transform students and teachers alike. This is an ideal text for courses in educational foundations, multicultural education, urban studies, sociology of education, English education, social justice education, literacy education, socio-cultural contexts of teaching, adult education, cultural studies, schools and communities, and popular education.
About the Author :
William Ayers is former Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of several books including Teaching Toward Freedom and Public Enemy. Caroline Heller is a professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she also directs the PhD Program in Educational Studies (Individually Designed Specialization). She is the author of Until We Are Strong Together and Reading Claudius: A Memoir in Two Parts. Janise Hurtig is co-director of the PRAIRIE Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she directs the Community Writing Project. She is the author of Coming of Age in Times of Crisis: Youth, Schooling, and Patriarchy in a Venezuelan Town and co-editor of Gender's Place: Feminist Anthropologies of Latin America.
Review :
«This wonderfully humane and instructive book pays tribute to Hal Adams, a community educator with a deep belief in the ability of common folk, and also pays tribute - beautiful tribute - to the writers themselves, poor people of color who arise from these pages in their eloquence and agency.»
(Mike Rose, author of Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education)
«Hal Adams is a sovereign soul. From the testaments offered in this volume, his words and actions continue to grow in the hearts of all who had the pleasure of knowing him. Through an undying commitment to the idea that everyday folks are often the greatest doers and thinkers, he will forever live in my heart as one of the best examples of a quiet, reflective warrior for justice.» (David Stovall, Professor of African American Studies and Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago)
«If 'every person is a philosopher, ' then Hal Adams was a midwife for bringing forth generations of everyday wisdom. This gathering of essays, written as if huddled at a wooden coffee table, reveals the sweet music of people and communities becoming, writing, imagining, revolting, hesitating, trying on selves, and sometimes moving to action. The words on the page embody the soft, generous spirit of Adams as he channeled the souls of Freire, Gramsci, Du Bois, C.L.R. James, and also homeless adults, rap musicians, and Somali immigrants whose names we don't know. Hal carved small spaces where everyday people could gather to write on ordinary thought, real conditions, what has been, what is, and what must be. He asked his comrades to see themselves as writers as he invites those of us who remain, yet, to re-fashion ourselves as humble architects of the next generation of spaces, where hesitant voices and drafty writings meet politics, human (in)securities, and humor, to create a tomorrow not yet.» (Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center)
