Introduction: Weaving the Pedagogical Fabric of Place, Context, and the Personal

Abstract

In this introductory chapter, we work to position this edited volume within a set of conceptions on three vertices. The first two vertices lay out the intersections between place, context, and the personal, and the local and global challenges our communities deal with including inequity; social justice; the environment; technology; diversity and inclusion; and democracy. Using the conceptions of work in education around voice and communication; knowledge and skills; and experience; the three vertices of our framework for an activist stance help build meaning and interdisciplinarity around the work we need to do in schools and with young people. Place, context, and identity all play out in progressive education work going on around the world. Loose networks and organizing groups help find ways for individuals and activists advocating to impact their societies and build new realities. As a goal for this volume, we argue that we must pay attention to whose voices we listen to. Bakhtin, through his theory of dialogic discourse, argued that our world is multivoiced and moving toward a better society when we engage in dialogic talk rather than monologic/theoretical talk. The challenges we face in the world make images of the future uncertain. We must create spaces for individuals across the hierarchies of school and educational institutions to contribute to defining the future we all seek and then working with these individuals to move us in those directions.