The Limits of Empowerment in Anti-Nuclear Advocacy: A Case Study of Adult Education for Technological Literacy

Authors

  • Robert Regnier Inter-Church Uranium Committee Education Cooperative
  • Phillip Penna Inter-Church Uranium Committee Education Cooperative

Abstract

This paper identifies limits to empowerment in critical adult education through the work of the Inter-Church Uranium Committee Education Cooperative (ICUCEC) that organized public participation in the environmental impact assessment hearings for three uranium mine projects in Saskatchewan, Canada. This account locates its analysis within the work of critical adult education theorists particularly M. Collins, H. Giroux, P. Freire, and K. Fleming, who recommend emancipatory possibilities for social and political development. As a form of self-critical analysis, however, this account brings to bear Jennifer Gore's caution about empowerment rhetoric as ideology in critical theorizing. More specifically, this analysis identifies limitations to development of citizen empowerment within a project to oppose uranium mining. The article reviews the educational politics of public hearings, where citizen groups scrutinize environmental impact statements prepared by corporate experts in submissions to environmental assessment panels. To analyze the politics of empowerment, the authors use Fleming's theory of technological literacy. They examine ICUCEC's work to access technical expertise, develop resource packages, facilitate educational tours, conduct workshops, arrange for special presentations to the panel, and provide public information to support public participation in these hearings.

Résumé

Cet article signale qu'il existe des limites à l'appropriation de pouvoir à travers les activites d'éducation des adultes. Le groupe Inter-Church Uranium Committee Education Cooperative (ICUCEC) encadra la participation du public lors d'audiences sur l'évaluation d'impact minier de trois projets d'extraction d'uranium en Saskatchewan. Notre analyse puise ses sources dans les travaux de théoriciens critiques en éducation des adultes, notamment de M. Collins, H. Giroux, P. Freire, et K. Fleming, qui recommandent une approche émancipatrice au développement social et politique. Or dans une perspective d'autocritique, il faudrait rappeler la mise en garde de Jennifer Gore qui soutient que la rhétorique de l'appropriation peut devenir une idéologic en théorie critique. Plus spécifiquement, la présente analyse circonscrit les limites de l'appropriation chez les citoyens engagés dans un projet d'opposition à l'extraction d'uranium. Cet article propose un survol de la politique éducative des audiences publiques, où des groupes de citoyens examinent les études d'impact environnemental préparées par les experts de la grande entreprise et soumises aux comités d'évaluation environnementale. Afin d'analyser la politique de l'appropriation, les auteurs s'appuient sur la théorie de l'alphabétisme technologique de Fleming. Ils examinent les efforts déployés par ICUCEC pour avoir développer l'expertise technique, mettre sur pied des ressources, animer des tournées éducatives et des ateliers, organiser des présentations spéciales, et diffuser des renseignements susceptibles d'améliorer la participation du public lors d'audiences semblables.

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Published

1996-11-01

How to Cite

Regnier, R., & Penna, P. (1996). The Limits of Empowerment in Anti-Nuclear Advocacy: A Case Study of Adult Education for Technological Literacy. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 10(2), 37–62. Retrieved from https://cjsae.library.dal.ca/cjsae/article/view/2072

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 2 (1996)

Section

Articles

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