Learning Activism

"The fascinating story of how contemporary activists learn from each other and disseminate their knowledge is still being unravelled by academia, as well as by social movements themselves. In Learning Activism: The Intellectual Life of Contemporary Social Movements, Aziz Choudry, an activist-turned-academic and professor in McGill's Department of Integrated Studies in Education, pays homage to the intellectual work that is inherently produced and circulated when people get together to challenge oppressive systems."

Learning Activism is informed by a vast swathe of intellectual thought concerned with politicization, political learning and collective struggle including critical adult education, institutional and activist ethnography and anti-colonial, feminist, anti-racist, indigenous, immigrant, migrant and working class struggles.

Choudry's book carries great authority as it stems from his more than twenty years in activist organizations around the globe. The author takes the reader on a fascinating journey to different emancipatory movements on five different continents. Particularly intriguing is his analysis of gatherings, arts and poetry as form of collective activist learning. Putting into doubt the mobilizing factor of dry NGO leaflets and academic publications, Choudry convincingly points his (most likely academic) audience to the force of non-written material. He challenges social movement research to think outside the box and opens potential avenues for fruitful interaction between activist scholars and activist organizations. Choudry encourages scholars to move closer to activists in order to understand the complex ways knowledge is created in action. As a result, this is an excellent read for scholars and activists alike.

Choudry makes a compelling case for looking at the various forms of knowledge production and learning taking place in social movement activism. Drawing from a rich array of activist and organizing experiences around the globe, the author encourages readers to consider social movements as classrooms where people come together to share ideas and conceptual tools for fighting oppression and bringing about social change. This book is particularly helpful for thinking about how radical imagination is profoundly shaped by actions in the moments of political organizing.

Learning Activism is an insightful exploration into the discourse and spaces where learning takes place in social movements but provides a critical examination into the lack of embeddedness among scholars in the field they research that is surely generalizable in the social sciences. Aziz Choudry thoughtfully challenges the types of activities and dialogue being held that can create experts and leaders in activist organisations and mobilizations that can contribute to silencing the voices of those who are marginalized.

Through interviews with activist researchers, Choudry documents experiences that can inform the development of policy advocacy practices among media activists.

This book is an important call to action to both adult educators and social movement scholars to engage directly with the practical and embodied experiences of learning through social action. I highly recommend this book to all scholars and students in these fields as well as to activists engaged in political struggle.

"The information that Choudry discloses in this book gives social movement groups the credibility he feels they deserve for the scholarly work that they do. He accomplishes his goal of creating a space where activists are also seen as intellectuals. The personal experience that Choudry brings to this book, and the commitment he has to being an activist amid all of his scholarly work, is the biggest strength to his book."