Maison des Sciences de l'Homme – Paris Nord (Photo: M. Alhadeff-Jones, 2017)

On October 27, 2017, I was invited by the members of the Collège international de recherche biographique en éducation (CIRBE) to present some of the reflections I have developed in my latest book on the temporalities of emancipatory processes.

Below are links to the video recordings of my intervention in the doctoral and post-doctoral seminar organized by CIRBE and the University of Paris 13 Sorbonne at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris.

In the first part of this presentation, I propose elements of definition to approach the concept of emancipation in education. I also discuss the relationship between emancipation and critical theories in educational sciences, as well as some of the paradoxes inherent to emancipatory education.

In the second part of this talk, I discuss the emancipatory dimension inherent in the use of biographical approaches in adult education. Doing so, I show how the implementation of this type of approach reveals some of the temporal constraints that influence the processes of empowerment and transformation sought.

In the third part of this talk, I discuss how biographical research in adult education allows one to study the temporalities inherent in the processes of emancipation. Drawing on transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1991) and on my own research, I propose to consider the continuities and discontinuities constituting the processes of (trans-)formation and their rhythmic dimension.

In the fourth and last part of this talk, I propose some ideas to think further about the temporalities that characterize emancipatory processes. To do so, I rely on a rhythmic approach that emphasizes the fluidity of the relationship between autonomy and dependence throughout one’s life.