Revisiting Highlander and Its Theoretical Origins for Civic Education

Abstract

Adult educators and scholars have long recognized the Highlander Education and Research Center in Tennessee as a model for adult civic education that is transformative for individuals and society. In 2004, researchers at Harvard University identified Highlander as one of the most successful initiatives worldwide with long-term impact on societal transformation. It is important for current scholars interested in adult and civic education to understand Highlander’s theoretical and practical contributions to adult learning and civic action, and how it shares many of the same theoretical streams of thought that influenced the development of transformative adult education. This article will provide an in-depth review of how Highlander’s theoretical origins, depicted through one of its founder’s intellectual discoveries, were forerunners to contemporary transformative educational theory and became a catalyst for a decades-long enterprise of transformative education. Highlander and its approach may be unfamiliar to contemporaries in adult education, but its theoretical and practical approach remains highly relevant as we seek nontraditional models and educational practices to promote civic engagement for a more socially and economically just society.