Global Issues and Adult Education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa, and the United States,
Sharan B. Merriam, Bradley C. Courtenay and Ronald M. Cervero, Eds, Jossey-Bass, 2006.
Reviewed by Elizabeth L. Evans, Concordia University Wisconsin

From the perspective of those who study adult education as an academic discipline, faculty developers and those who lead faculty in teaching and learning are adult educators. Each in our own way, those who advance learning in the academy are working toward the mission of adult education "to help adults, as individuals and groups, achieve their goals and aspirations" (p. xi). The broad scope of adult education and this volume embrace the needs of learners as well as leaders, from planning of formal programs to the nurturance of communities toward their own agendas.

Globalization is no longer an external theoretical concept, but a reality we see in the activities of daily life. Our colleagues and students may be around the world as well as around the corner, while our research and professional development may take us into new landscapes, understanding experiences very different from our own through our students and faculty, or traveling to lands which no longer seem so far away. As those committed to advancing higher education, our horizons can be further expanded by the 38 contributors from Latin America, Southern Africa, and the United States who came together as Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education. These contributors, as well as the three editors, bring the reader an engaged, critical perspective on global issues, including education within marginalized populations, environmental and health education, community empowerment, and lifelong learning.

Part One develops the global framework of the volume through the eyes of the critical adult educator. The critical eye sees the economic, educational and social inequalities expanded by economic realities of the "unbridled" global market economy. Juan José Madrigal Georne provides a view of the negative sociodemographic effects of globalization in his native Mexico, recognizing a polarization between globalifóbico [fear of globalization] or globalifílico [embrace of globalization]. Talmadge Guy contributes a chapter on the impact of the media and the need for critical media literacy, while Daniel Folkman builds a model of human development grounded in the expanded meaning-making potential of a unifying worldview.

Each subsequent section of this volume may draw a variety of interested readers. Nine of the chapters were translated from Spanish and those who study Latin America will find the chapters from that region of particular interest. Those who study the concerns of women will find chapters to savor. Those who think of the nurturing of learning as primarily the role of the university will be challenged and expanded, as most of the chapters contemplate adult education in informal, community, or organizational settings.

Part Two, on marginalized populations, raises issues of gender, race, class, and disability, including women transitioning from welfare in the U.S, (Mary Alfred), women displaced by violence in Columbia (Mónica Arboleda Giraldo) and living in settlements in South Africa (Doris Daniels). Vivian Mott continues the theme of the critical educator, writing of education as a political activity which is value-laden. Vanessa Sheared addresses marginalization within the academy and shares some of her experience as an African American womanist scholar, while Lisa Baumgartner suggests that social justice adult education can challenge the hegemony of privilege in the U.S.

Part Three focuses on environmental and health adult education, including chapters on HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and several calls to expand environmental education. Barbara Daley poses health as a social construct and suggests more alignment between health professionals' health promotion efforts and adult education's teaching and learning literature and practice. Robert Hill calls on adult education to "play a primary role in building environmental democracies" (p. 266), while Edward Taylor encourages a "greening" of the adult education academy.

Parts Four and Five focus on community empowerment and lifelong learning. Adult education's emphasis on these avenues for learning is well-known, and chapters look at the social capital of community of those facing HIV/AIDS in Lesotho, literacy education policy and research in Brazil, transformative learning empowering a circle of African American women scholars, low income adult learners in higher education, international approaches to prior learning assessment in distance learning, and current lifelong learning issues in Argentina and Chile.

The editors suggest that the process of globalization itself, while exacerbating the condition of the marginalized, also "saps the resources of the country to respond" (p. 486) to their needs. If globalization is an integrating force, the interrelationships between the continuing economic trends and health, the environment, politics and power, and those who have been marginalized are of concern to the lifelong learner in the academy. The reader might consider whether he or she, as a member of the academy, could contribute to the five summary actions recommended: to create space and listen to voices, to adopt a critical stance, to attend to policy, to develop partnerships, and to foster collective learning and action. Spending time with this volume is one place to start.