Jennifer Kelly and Bruce Spencer
Cultural studies in adult education: from class to race
Jennifer Kelly
University of Alberta, Canada
Bruce Spencer
Athabasca University, Canada
Paper presented at the 36th Annual SCUTREA Conference, 4-6 July 2006, Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds
This paper will argue that adult education researchers who are interested in examining inter and intra cultural perspectives in adult learning will be well served by having some understanding of the origins of cultural studies in adult education and the location of contemporary critical cultural studies.
Cultural studies had its origins in adult education, in the extramural/WEA courses offered by the likes of Raymond Williams, Edward Thompson, and Richard Hoggart. The opportunity to offer this paper at a Leeds international adult education is fortuitous. As participants are no doubt aware it was at Leeds that EP Thompson wrote The Making of the English Working Class and Leeds is not far from Hull, the academic home of Richard Hoggart and The Uses of Literacy. Raymond Williams wrote The Long Revolution and Culture and Society as an adult educator working for the Oxford Delegacy. And also authored in Leeds was perhaps the definitive work connecting these contributions, Tom Steele’s TheEmergence of Cultural Studies: Adult Education, Cultural Politics and the ‘English’ Question (see also McIlroy and Westwood, Border Country: Raymond Williams in Adult Education).
The paper will draw on an interdisciplinary approach that will encompass a critical cultural studies framework and sociological theory. Cultural studies approaches an understanding of people’s lives by accepting Williams’s caveat that ‘culture is ordinary’ and by examining the everyday lives lived in the context of the political and social events as they are experienced and acted upon by individuals and social groups in society. The paper recognises that the institutional origins of cultural studies was wrapped up with understanding working class experience and its contemporary loci has shifted scholarship more to understanding (cultural) identity, difference and textuality. In some ways Stuart Hall, with his understandings of difference and identity rooted to his Marxist analysis, is a link between the original understandings of British cultural studies and its more modern manifestations. This paper also seeks to marry the two and demonstrate the importance of insights and understandings gained for contemporary research in adult education/learning.It will conclude with a discussion of how adult education can build Black identity and community.
The origins, workers’ education – from base to superstructure
It is possible to track the major concerns with economics and politicswithin early developments of workers’/adult education – from the Mechanics Institutes to the Plebs League, in the classes offered by the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) either independently or together with Extra-mural Departments of the Universities (the joint committees for extension lectures and tutorial classes). Whether it was offered via ‘independent working class educators’ or university/WEA ‘liberal adult educators’ economics and politics were seen as more central than literature and culture in the early years. The change of focus in adult education classes is linked to the aftermath of the Second World War, to a time when social democratic values allied to the US Marshal Plan and Keynesian economics resulted in broader economic recovery and a feeling of greater social justice. It should also not be forgotten that the impact of the cold war meant that teaching political economy and Marxist thought was considered subversive activity.
It would be a mistake to assume that all political economy classes ceased post-war, in fact some joint tutorial classes continued in the Swarthmore Centre in Leeds till the 1990s (Swarthmore is an ‘educational settlement,’ a non-residential adult education institution established in 1909).But the shift was clear; it was to literature and local history and after the1980s it was towards credentialism and away from the ‘great tradition of liberal adult education’ of non-vocational, non-credential adult classes. The shift was away from concerns with the ‘base’ (economic structures and power) towards the ‘superstructure’ (culture and ideology) is associated with the growth of cultural studies. Raymond Williams’semphasison‘social being determines consciousness’ rather than base determining superstructure perhaps sums up this shift (Williams, 1973/2005).This is still a Marxist perspective and it is important to grasp that the early cultural studies theorists were influenced by Marxist ideas, they were concerned with social justice and the potential of democratic institutions to create real change – the ‘long revolution’ documented by Raymond Williams emphasises the shift towards democracy from below that was real in the 1950s, 60s and 70s (although it seems so distant today with moneyed politics under the leadership of Bush and Blair).
An understanding of the origins of cultural studies is captured in the first paragraph of Tom Steele’s insightful text, abbreviated below:
A popular misconception about British cultural studies as an academic subject is that it sprang fully-armed from the side of a university department of English ….the project of cultural studies more properly belongs to the experimentation, interdisciplinarity, and political commitment of adult education immediately before and after the Second World War …. While the pre-war class order seemed fatally crippled, so did the old class politics: the popular front against fascism had suggested a new kind of political struggle not so much at the point of production as at the point of representation. From the embers of the independent workers’ education movement arose the phoenix of cultural studies. (1997, p.9)
We want to argue that it is possible to infuse adult education work within and without the academy with the spirit of the early British cultural studies scholars: a focus on the lives of ordinary people, on historical memory, on critical understandings, on insights that draw on economics and politics and marry those to the cultural. The focus of cultural studies may have shifted to linguistic/literary criticism, to difference and identity but the thread of critical cultural studies is discernable in some of these new worksand can provide a guide to academic work, adult education and social action – what Michael Welton (2005) refers to as the creation of a ‘just learning society’ –as Welton argues ‘our actions still flow out of our cultural perceptions of the world’(p.3).
Black/African Canadian identity and community
This section will draw upon Jennifer Kelly’s experience of working in the Black/African-Canadian community in Edmonton, a small community that is defined by heterogeneity rather than homogeneity and is both in and of the wider Edmonton community. The account is abridged from her chapter in Adult Education in Contexts: Canadian Perspectives(Fenwick, et al, 2006)itwill recount the problems associated with building community and identity within such a heterogeneous Black population using the example of a public adult education initiative, theLiving History Group.
This section adoptsan interdisciplinary approach that encompasses a critical cultural studies framework and sociological theory. It begins with the work of British cultural studies theorists noted above. In addition, this section draws on the works of Paul Gilroy (1993), Stuart Hall (1990), Rinaldo Walcott (1997), Zygmunt Bauman (2001), and Joan Scott (1992). Many of these writers have been influenced by poststructuralist orientations and conceptual understandings but have retained critical perspectives. For example, Bauman (a longstanding professor at Leeds) indicated that the use of ‘community’ as homogeneous is problematic given our focus on individualism and private troubles. His concept of solidarity is based on a tolerance of difference not uniformity; on engaging in struggles for difference and the rights of others. For Bauman, solidarity comes from forming an‘ethical community’that provides safety and security. He considers that such an understanding leads to a politics of identity and emancipation but also acknowledges it has also brought charges of essentialism.However criticisms of essentialism ignore the necessity to act politically on issues of concern to those who, for example, might self-identify as Black. Abandoning such a political project might stymie the ability to fight for social justice for African Canadians and is not therefore at the expense of class or broader community politics.
Theories of identity formation such as those espoused by Gilroy and Hall indicate that Black identities are fluid and not static. We need to bear in mind Joan Scott’s (1992) caution about taking as self-evident the identities of those under discussion. Without such problematisation, what results is an ahistorical conception of what it means to be an African Canadian. Therefore we need to attend to the historical processes and the ways in which individuals are constituted through experiences.
The history of African Canadians in Alberta
If we examine the cultural and economic formation of Alberta as a province at the turn of the 20th century, we find that from 1907 to 1912 various strategies were employed by the immigration authorities to discourage Blacks from moving to the Canadian west from Oklahoma and other parts of the US. Alberta was foremost among the western provinces that fought to stem the flow of Black immigrants. Official organisations in Edmonton, such as the Board of Trade and the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, gathered petitions of protest to send to Ottawa. The basis for their disquiet was racism and a belief that Blacks were unable to live peacefully together with Whites. The dominant Anglo-Celtic groups viewed Blacks as biologically inferior and incapable of assimilating (for references to this section see Kelly, 1998; 2004; for an overview see Winks, 1971).
Blacks were posited as opposite to the thriving, hardy, and self-reliant northern Europeans. According to Cooke’s 1911 Maclean’s article (cited in Kelly, 1998), they were perceived as ‘lacking,’ initiative with a ‘sense of humour and predisposition to a life of ease [that] render[s] [their] presence undesirable’ (p.42). For Black women, stereotypes were gendered and racialised; there was concern about the ability of such ‘unsuitable’ bodies to produce future potential citizens who did not conform to conceptions of the ‘ultimate Canadian’ bred of the ‘best stock that could be found in the world’ (p. 42).
Such discursive practices played out through existing regionalised, classed, and gendered discourses. Chinese, Hindu, and Black immigrants were contrasted to the preferred group who consisted of northern Europeans who were considered easily assimilated, of hardier stock, and likely to thrive in Canada’s northern climate. However, those Black immigrants who made it into Alberta between 1907 and 1911 formed the core of the early Black settlers. This group of pioneer families and their descendants remained the dominant Black group in the province until the second wave arrived.
For town dwellers who had to interact with Whites on an ongoing basis, racism and discrimination were much more of an everyday occurrence. However, political responses were still required. The Coloured Protective Association was formed in the early 1900s in Calgary to resist White racism. In the 1920s, organisations such as the Universal Negro Improvement Association were also active in the community, as was the Alberta Negro Colonisation and Settlement Society. Testament to community activity during the 1920s and 1930s is seen in the regular Edmonton Bulletincolumn entitled ‘Our Negro Citizens.’ The cultural/social occasions advertised and commented on were often organised through members of the ShilohBaptistChurch.
Little has been documented about adult education within these communities, but undoubtedly people would meet at church and other social gatherings and discuss the issues of the day and plan community events. There is no reason to suppose that they were not influenced by Farm Forum radio and the travelling movie shows (from the University of Alberta Extension Department) in the same way that other rural communities were. They would also have access to news of other Black communities in such places as Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver, and the US that was carried coast to coast by the all-Black sleeping-car porters on the railways, news that would filter through from the mainline stations in Calgary and Edmonton. Black news-sheets, music, and ideas would ride the rails (Mathieu, 2001).
With the relaxation and opening up of the immigration laws in 1962 and again in 1967, the Alberta Black population was increased with immigrants from Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, and Barbados. These revisions of the Immigration Act that finally took place were prompted not by any major desire by government and immigration authorities to further develop a ‘racially’ pluralist society, but rather primarily by economic expediency. This group of immigrants was diverse in terms of geographic origins and occupational skills, many being technicians, tradesman of all kinds, clerical workers, and teachers (who were able to emigrate from the Caribbean directly into jobs as teachers, usually in rural areas).
These workers from the Caribbean were later joined by students from the Caribbean and countries in Africa who would graduate from the University of Alberta and go on to enter a wide spectrum of professions. In the 1980s and 1990s these groups of diasporan Blacks were joined by others from African countries who were fleeing war or trying to make a better life for themselves and their children. Approximately 2% of the population in both Edmonton and Calgary are Black, with the majority of those born outside Canada coming from African or Caribbean countries.
This latest period of immigration was also marked by renewed political self-organisation. Cultural groups such as the National Black Coalition of Canada and the Council of Black Organizations (now the Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage), as well as the Jamaica Association of Northern Alberta, the Nigerian Association, and so on, provided a link with their homeland for many new immigrants as well as a forum for challenging the racialised state of Canadian society.
Building community
For those cultural workers who are active in communities, it is imperative that one recognise heterogeneity of experiences within a community as well as heterogeneity in terms of social categories (class, gender, sexualities). Such an understanding makes problematic the notion of ‘working with the community,’ it highlights community as something that has to be worked at rather than something that is ready to be worked on. The issue of voice also becomes problematic with such an understanding: It raises the question of who can speak on behalf of a ‘community.’ What does it mean to have community consensus? Such recognition of plurality also highlights that conflict within a community is not necessarily negative and constraining, but can be used to enable social change.
Further, if adult educators were to adopt Hall’s postulation that Black identity is a political identity, how would that affect the ways in which we approach community building? Might such an adoption allow for recognition that outside of a political project it is possible to differ? In other words, that Black identity can be used strategically so that one need not fear essentialism.
Living History Group (LHG)
The Living History Group, formed under the umbrella of Edmonton’s Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage, is a concrete example of working within a Black community and trying to connect with differing understandings of Blackness in the wider community.
The group was formed in reaction to a local newspaper article arguing Black history month was irrelevant to Alberta and merely a US import. LHG was formed to demonstrate this misconception about the place of African Canadians in Alberta’s history was misplaced at best and needed to be rerepresented through a political strategy. We wrote the usual letters to the media to contest the misinformation in the article, and a few people decided to meet again to organise an event that would highlight the contributions of early African Canadians to Canadian society both in Alberta and beyond. Although the members of our group had a strong connection to the Caribbean, we set out to explore the possibilities of including all of the diverse experiences of Edmontonians of African descent.
What connects our group is our knowledge and experiences (whether through the legacy of slavery or the economic and political ravages of colonialism) and the ways in which we have been marginalised and excluded from power within a dominant White society. To be treated as the ‘outsider’ or ‘other,’ as the non-Albertan/Canadian ‘under the gaze’ of dominant White society, is a common experience for peoples of African descent (and other visible minorities) that denies Canada’s multicultural/multiethnic history. To combat this, we set about organizing a number of educational events that would challenge the ‘outsider’ view of African Canadians. The events were designed to educate Black and White Edmontonians about Canada’s Black history. We hoped that these educational offerings would help to build identity and community and go beyond the ‘dance, diet, and dress’ approach of Heritage Days and Cari-West festivals. Although both events are useful and enjoyable, they do not speak consistently to the history of early settlers in Alberta or to ongoing social struggles of the Black community.