Becoming the Change You Want to See in the World

Abstract

Gandhi’s famous quote “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” has inspired the title of this chapter. He believed that advocates of social change need to encourage others by their own example, showing that the means influences the end and the individual shapes the social. Like Gandhi, I believe that to give substance and content to a vision of social change, it is helpful to begin living and creating such change now, through daily practices. Feminist popular education for me is about creating learning environments where participants are encouraged to experience themselves and their relationships with each other in new ways, where patriarchal mind-body splits and social hierarchies are challenged, where individuals are supported in linking their personal life experiences with a collective social and political reality, and where opportunities are created for initiating changes to the relations that participants perceive as oppressive. Changing old habits is complex; it is not a one-off event but an ongoing process of becoming that requires continuing experimentation and reflection.