Abstract
No Small Lives profiles 26 women adult educators whose contributions to the field of adult education have been either silenced or erased, and in some cases recently discovered. This book represents an act of reclamation and celebration of untold stories of the women profiled to ensure their rightful place as the “Founding Mothers” of the adult education movement in the standard histories of the field. The editors and chapter authors are commended for their commitment to carefully reconstruct the life stories of each woman, even in the cases where no formal research existed. To this end, the foreword written by M. Carolyn Clark aptly characterizes this text as a special gift to the reader. Clark states, “What you hold is no small gift of no small lives. Receive it with joy!” (p. xi).
Part I sets the historical scene of the stories in “Searching for the Women in a Defeminized Past” by Amy D. Rose and “Adult Education History and the Issue of Gender” by Jane M. Hugo. Rose’s opening chapter makes the case for why the women’s story has not been simply “overlooked, it is the story of a group that was substantially sidelined” (p. 4). Rose argues, [Women] were integral to the development of adult education in the 20th century. However, part of the problem is that it is hard to distinguish the parameters of adult education and so the history itself is unclear. Is the history of adult education that of all educative efforts for adults or is it the history of a profession? (p. 4).
Hugo points out that women are the prime movers when the definition of adult education is broadened to include “women’s clubs, settlement house work, suffrage, and library development” (p. 20). Situating their contributions in the history of the field requires “step[s] back to move forward” (p. 17) as Hugo explains, further indicative that a more inclusive examination of adult education history is important for the future.
The biographies of the 26 women comprise Part II. The editors and authors have identified women educators and activists from North and South America who were active in the field from 1925 to 1950. “Each one of them was a Force!” Clark writes in her foreword (p. x). Yet their varied accomplishments were disregarded as adult education became a profession tied to universities run by men (Welton, 2010). Furthermore, each biography shows that women do the “grunt work” (Rose, p. 4). They concentrated on immediate, practical remedies for citizens’ health and welfare. Women’s adult educational efforts were valued during the tough times of the Depression. Conversely, in prosperous times the “conceptualizing” men discounted the women’s wide-ranging educational ventures (Rose, p. 4).
Part III, “Conclusion,” opens with a chapter by Juanita Johnson-Bailey and Elizabeth J. Tisdell that demonstrates that “masculine knowledge is familiar; it has a long and elite tradition; it is considered better” (p. 268). Men are still the conceptualizers, even though women outnumber men as students in adult education departments and more women are professors and do the bulk of research in the field. The concluding chapter written by the editors presents common themes of early adult education: women’s part in the expansion of adult education, advocacy for education for citizenship (Imel, 2012), advocacy for the masses, demonstrated leadership and path-making (Welton, 2010), and women’s contributions to the knowledge base of the field.
Overall, the biographies in this book create an interesting conversation among authors, with Rose and Hugo setting forth premises of women being sidelined and new history being needed that recognizes women’s contributions. Johnson-Bailey and Tisdell bring in current statistics showing that even though women are gaining in numbers and influence, men still maintain the privilege. Hugo, Johnson-Bailey, and Tisdell use studies they conducted in the 1990s about women’s influence in the field to reflect on what has advanced, including women in adult education history and what more needs to be done. The linking of the chapters adds interest and depth to the stories. The appendix of biographical sketches of even more Foremothers is an ideal addition and indicates how wide-open the field of research is for these women.
Great effort was put into research that includes Canadian and U.S. historical practices. Although an impressive amount of reading, this book effectively shows universality of the erasure of women in adult education history on both sides of the border for the same reasons. Likewise, great effort was made to include a mix of races and jobs in adult education along with common themes summed up in the editors’ conclusion. Although the quality of prose, organization, and chronology of events of the biographies themselves were noticeably inconsistent, discussions of adult education histories woven throughout each chapter enrich the points of each essay and strengthen the case for a dose of feminist theory. On the whole, this is an academic book with extensive references making it an indelible contribution to the scholarship and practice of the field of adult education.