International Gramsci Society Newsletter

Peter Mayo: Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education(London: Zed Books, 1999)reviewed byDebbie Hill(University of Waikato, New Zealand)Readers of the last issue of the IGS Newletter (No.9, March 1999, pp.19-26) may havenoted my somewhat critical review of Diana Coben's attempt to profile the importance of thewritings of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire to the field of adult education (Radical Heroes:Gramsci, Freire and the Politics of Adult Education. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).Interestingly, not twelve months later, yet another volume devoted to Gramsci and Freire and adulteducation has subsequently been published. Advertising a similar theme to that portrayed inCoben's study—that of attempting to contribute towards the development of theoretical andpedagogical possibilities for transformative action—Peter Mayo's analysis, happily, appears to offera much more authentic examination of the ideas of both these theorists. In so far as Mayo showsnone of the overt reticence towards adopting a socialist stance that was so evident in Coben's work,his up-front, positive valuation of the tripartite concepts of social, political and economic justice toeducational thinking allows him much more power to apply the critical insights which aGramscian/Freirean interpretation of Marxism genuinely has to offer. For, as I argued previously inthe Coben review, this was precisely the problem with her analysis: the advancement of anexpansion of "democratic possibilities" through the lens of poststructuralism did not ultimatelyallow her to critique the logic of 'capital' itself. Unequal social relationships could be fought againstand rectified by a "deepening of democracy," but Coben's very construal of democracy was definedpurely as individualistic liberal supports—gains brought about through treaties or contracts framedsolely within a language of rights (as opposed to those gains being grounded in ethical concerns).Having assumed that capitalism was therefore a "given," her analysis was one which essentiallyretained the full flavour of an existing and globalised capitalist rationality. The net result, invariably,was that whilst localised equity gains might well be made, the residual and destructive effects of thesystemic roots of capitalism would never be fully targeted for direct elimination.By contrast, Mayo seems to appreciate this point and begins to charter the effects of thisgiven right from the outset. Focussing directly on globalised capital, he notes the shift in theconceptual landscape of adult education sympomatic of the impact of neoliberal imperatives; the— 17 —