Abstract
We are two scholars exploring community. One is an immigrant, grew up in Iran, and learned tolerance and inclusion in a life governed by fundamentalism. The other is a queer White woman who grew up in a particularly diverse neighborhood in Arizona but has watched the state become more and more unsafe for immigrants. In a world where the rise of fundamentalism is dividing immigrant and White working-class people, and in light of West’s reflections on solidarity across difference, we write this for ourselves, and all those affected by and engaged with the current distress in the United States.
West, building on his life engagements in the United Kingdom, while no doubt pointing to the global community, suggests, “We might now need a new politics and education grounded in our shared humanity” (p. xv). West shows us the human vulnerability that can push people to fall prey to fundamentalism of all forms, but he also highlights the experience of recognition and solidarity that can undermine the forces of alienation and division. And he applies the most appropriate approach in creating his call. Through a series of in-depth narratives and his own experience, his methodology of “auto/biographical narrative enquiry” (p. 4) weaves both personal and diverse stories into a complex tapestry of hope and hopelessness.
In chapters 1 and 2, West sets the intellectual stage as he introduces the book’s key themes of education, democracy, and fundamentalism. He urges us to recognize our own susceptibility to fundamentalist sentiments, which, he suggests, offer fraternity and certainty in the face of an increasingly complex, alienating and potentially paralyzing global climate. West also reminds us of a long history of U.K. workers’ education and democratic learning that can offer “resources of hope” (p. 17). Appropriately, it is this combination of content that makes up the kind of Freirean education that West calls for.
In chapter 3, he situates the reader in his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent, a postindustrial distressed city with a complex history, and the setting of this book. He details the history and current situation of disinvestment, mental illness, and political and economic distress. In chapter 4, he details his distinct methodology of auto/biographical narrative enquiry, developed over his career and life experience. His deep attention to emotionality, power, and trust are particularly appropriate given the aim of this work. Chapters 5 and 6 follow somewhat parallel experiences of stigmatization and disrespect. Chapter 5 highlights the stories of White working-class people and the pain of abandonment by the state. Chapter 6 shows how racism and Islamophobia can push young men to Islamic fundamentalism, and compares these two extremist ideologies. In chapter 7, Dr. West further locates himself through a deep and vulnerable reflection on the sometimes-disrespectful relationship between autodidacts and formal scholars. Chapter 8 follows stories from the tradition of democratic and worker education and highlights both its decline and a promise for hope. Chapter 9 details the renewal of informal education through examples such as Philosophy in Pubs, as well as how these new forms differ from the more male-centered labor movements of the past. Chapter 10 is the pinnacle of this book. West tells the story of Stoke mineworkers’ solidarity with a Czech mining town destroyed by the Nazis in 1942. Though this story had been forgotten for decades, 70 years later it was recovered and shared in a beautiful example of civic education that inspired pride and hope in Stoke. In the final chapter, West brings together the often-fragmented aspects of neglect, disrespect, and lack of recognition facing ordinary people. He presents a theory of recognition based in the work of Axel Honneth.
West’s illustrations of fundamentalism compliments the work of Senge in The Fifth Discipline (2006), who similarly points to the struggle between the West and the Middle East as an example of how limited, fundamentalist thinking can produce a stalemate of ever-increasing terrorism and suffering. Senge calls for a shift toward systems thinking, “From seeing parts to seeing wholes, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality” (p. 69). The kind of democratic education West espouses in Distress in the City offers a realistic means to equip people with the practical and emotional tools necessary to resist fundamentalism and affirm a democratic and diverse world of human flourishing.
While this book clearly has global significance, West could have established a clearer connection from Stoke-on-Trent to the broader scope of fundamentalism in today’s world. In light of the complex history of education in chapter 7, it is imperative that formal community organizers and adult educators come together to foster democratic education. In today’s United States, we recommend this book to anyone concerned with democracy, education, diversity, inclusion, and emancipatory politics. Assign it to your students; share it with colleagues who blame White working-class people for our current political climate; and allow it to inspire you to explore the history of resistance wherever you are.