Global Networks, Local Actions

‘Marcella Milana has written a fascinating and accessible book that opens up the world of adult education policy. Working between Global South and Global North from a sociological realist perspective, Milana’s case studies of Brazil, Argentina, Italy and the US trace the re-making of adult education and its effects that enable and steer adult learning. If we are to understand these policy processes and steering effects, she argues, it is necessary to recognize how they are no longer contained by nation-states but tensioned between global and local imperatives.’
Terri Seddon, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University, Australia

‘This is a remarkable contribution. Based on rich empirical case studies in Brazil, Argentina, the USA and Italy, Marcella Milana develops a powerful and insightful new theorisation of global adult education. She shows how, where – and why – the interests and agendas of global and local actors combine and conflict. Her book is both innovative and true to the best traditions of committed adult education scholarship.’
John Holford, Robert Peers Professor of Adult Education,Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK

‘This engaging text makes clear that education policy in any particular context cannot be thought of separately from the agendas of international agencies and their policy elites. Nevertheless, Marcella Milana is also clear that adult education is a site of contest in which actors of all types create ‘the global’ as everyday practice. A well-written and exhaustively complied comparative investigation, this important text deserves to be widely read’.
Stephen Carney, Associate Professor,Department of Psychology and Educational Studies, Roskilde University,Denmark

‘The empirical basis for the study is impressive in its depth and breadth. Based on fieldwork research in the four countries – Argentina, Brazil, Italy and USA – it is complemented with secondary data from a large volume of official documents and studies. The data is then subject to an analysis, which combines sociological approaches with political science, comparative education and educational anthropology. The result is an important contribution to the study of adult education in the three regions, which the research covers – North America, South America and Europe – but extrapolates those three regions to present conclusions, which are pertinent for adult learning and education globally.’
Timothy D. Ireland, Professor, Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil

‘This is an excellent book. It provides a clear and systematic conceptual framework for comprehending the public domain of adult education policy in an era of global governance. By doing so, it highlights the relative role of, and links between, major intergovernmental organisations and international nongovernmental organisations. Marcella Milana’s book deserves to be read widely by both adult educators and sociologists.’
Kjell Rubenson, Professor, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada