Public pedagogues of change: advocacy networks, civil society organisations, and self-help authors in Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores informal adult education for change in Mexico through the conceptual lens of social movement learning and public pedagogy. It adopts a multiple case design featuring two advocacy networks, two civil society organisations, and two self-help authors. It analyses how they position themselves as change agents addressing issues of food sovereignty, violence against women, social justice, environmental justice, financial insecurity, and emotional health. The article deconstructs how such agents diagnose problems and prescribe solutions that share a common logic: the unlearning of hegemonic knowledges and the learning of alternatives. It presents a continuum of pedagogical strategies, ranging from the most public (spectacular protests and social media work) to most private (targeted lobbying and workshopping). It contributes, methodologically and analytically, to literature at the intersection of social movement learning and public pedagogy. Methodologically, in a field dominated by stand-alone case studies from North America, it offers a comparative study of three domains of informal adult education in Mexico. Analytically, it unpacks public pedagogical messaging common to these domains and explain the strategies, interests and political implications that differentiate them. We encourage educators to assess the range of public pedagogical work that may be mobilised in the pursuit of change.