Dialogic Literary Gatherings: Opening Up Spaces of Meaning Creation and Social Transformation for Roma People

Authors

https://doi.org/10.17583/ijrs.8633

Keywords:


Downloads

Abstract

Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs) were created in La Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School, located in one of the poorest working-class neighborhoods in Barcelona (Spain) at the time, in 1978, by a group of non-academic women referred to as the “other women” (Puigvert, 2001). They were created with the aim of tearing down elitist walls which impeded low Socioeconomic Status, migrant, Roma, people with no academic studies or belonging to other excluded groups in society from reading universal classics of literature (Flecha, 2000). None of the participants in the first DLGs had university studies, and yet, they were able to read, understand, enjoy and debate works of authors such as Kafka, Lorca, Dostoyevsky, or Joyce. Moreover, as the scientific research conducted over these years has shown, DLGs have promoted great benefits among these populations, from fostering access to higher education, to increasing their self-esteem, or to becoming transformative agents in front of injustices. DLGs are based on dialogic learning, which is comprised of seven principles. This paper focuses on two of these principles: creation of meaning and transformation. Through reviewing empirical works about DLGs in Spain with adult participants, I argue that the dialogic interactions in which DLGs are grounded and the use of universal classic literature promote participants’ creation of meaning and transformations in their own lives and social contexts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aiello, E., Flecha, A., & Serradell, O. (2018). Exploring the barriers: A qualitative study about the experiences of mid-SES Roma navigating the Spanish healthcare system. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020377

Google Scholar Crossref

Aiello, E., Amador-López, J., Munté-Pascual, A., & Sordé-Martí, T. (2019). Grassroots Roma Women Organizing for Social Change: A Study of the Impact of ‘Roma Women Student Gatherings.’ Sustainability: Science Practice and Policy, 11(15), 4054. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154054

Google Scholar Crossref

Amador López, J. (2019). ¿Quién dijo sumisas? El Pentecostalismo y la mujer gitana luchando contra la violencia de género. International Journal of Roma Studies, 1(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijrs.2019.3786

Google Scholar Crossref

Alvarez, P., García-Carrión, R., Puigvert, L., Pulido, C., & Schubert, T. (2016). Beyond the Walls. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 0306624X16672864. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16672864

Google Scholar Crossref

Alvarez, P., García-Carrión, R., Puigvert, L., Pulido, C., & Schubert, T. (2018). Beyond the Walls: The Social Reintegration of Prisoners Through the Dialogic Reading of Classic Universal Literature in Prison. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 62(4), 1043–1061. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16672864

Google Scholar Crossref

Aubert, A. (2015). Amaya: Dialogic Literary Gatherings Evoking Passion for Learning and a Transformation of the Relationships of a Roma Girl With Her Classmates. Qualitative Inquiry: QI, 21(10), 858–864. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415614034

Google Scholar Crossref

Aubert, A., Villarejo, B., Cabré, J., & Santos, T. (2016). La Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School: A Reference for Neighborhood Popular Education. Teachers College Records, 118(4), 1–32. http://www.tcrecord.org/library/abstract.asp?contentid=19362

Google Scholar Crossref

Bakhtin, M. M. (Mikhail M. (1981). The dialogic imagination : four essays. University of Texas Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Bartlett, L. (2005). Dialogue, knowledge, and teacher-student relations: Freirean pedagogy in theory and practice. Comparative Education Review, 49(3), 344–364. https://doi.org/10.1086/430261

Google Scholar Crossref

Beck-Gernshein, E., Butler, J., & Puigvert, L. (2001). Mujeres y transformaciones sociales. In Apertura (1st ed.). Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona: El Roure.

Google Scholar Crossref

Boler, M. (1997). The risks of empathy: Interrogating multiculturalism’s gaze. Cultural Studies, 11(2), 253–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502389700490141

Google Scholar Crossref

Bourdieu, P. (1979). Distinction : a social critique of the judgement of taste.

Google Scholar Crossref

Bruner, J. S. (1996). The culture of education. Harvard University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Climent, V., & Joanpere, M. (2018). Limits of the Spanish Transition: Critical analysis of a process of social and political transformation. HSE Social and Education History, 7(3), 256–276. https://doi.org/10.17583/HSE.2018.3726

Google Scholar Crossref

Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology : a once and future discipline. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, A. (2015). Isabel, From Adult Learner to Community Activist. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(10), 865–871. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415611693

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, R. (2015). Successful Educational Actions for Inclusion and Social Cohesion in Europe. Springer.

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, R. (2000). Sharing Words: Theory and Practice of Dialogic Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?id=eK9vtVeX5PcC

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, R., & Soler, M. (2010). From Austin’s speech acts to communicative acts. Perspectives from Searle, Habermas and CREA. Signos, 43(2), 363–375. doi: 10.4067/S0718-09342010000400007

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, R., & Soler, M. (2013). Turning difficulties into possibilities: engaging Roma families and students in school through dialogic learning. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(4), 451–465. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2013.819068

Google Scholar Crossref

Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the Opressed. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Google Scholar Crossref

García-Espinel, T., Santiago-Santiago, D., y García-Algar, M. (2019). Diseñando e implementando políticas públicas con y para la comunidad gitana. El impacto social del Plan Integral del Pueblo Gitano en Cataluña. International Journal of Roma Studies, 1(1),84-119. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17583/ijrs.2019.3957

Google Scholar Crossref

García-Yeste, C., & Gairal, R. (2017). Empoderamiento e Inclusión Social de Mujeres Inmigrantes a través de las Tertulias Literarias Dialógicas. Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social, 6(2), 97–111. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2017.6.2.006

Google Scholar Crossref

Garcia Yeste, C., Padrós Cuxart, M., Mondéjar Torra, E., & Villarejo Carballido, B. (2017). The Other Women in Dialogic Literary Gatherings. Research on Ageing and Social Policy, 5(2), 181. https://doi.org/10.17583/rasp.2017.2660

Google Scholar Crossref

Girbés-Peco, S., Gairal-Casadó, R., & Torrego-Egido, L. (2019). The participation of Roma and Moroccan women in family education: educational and psychosocial benefits / Participación de mujeres gitanas y marroquíes en la formación de familiares: beneficios educativos y psicosociales. Cultura y Educación, 31(4), 754–779. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2019.1656487

Google Scholar Crossref

Gómez, A., Puigvert, L., & Flecha, R. (2011). Critical communicative methodology: Informing real social transformation through research. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(3), 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410397802

Google Scholar Crossref

Gómez, A., Padrós, M., Ríos, O., Mara, L.-C., & Pukepuke, T. (2019). Reaching Social Impact Through Communicative Methodology. Researching With Rather Than on Vulnerable Populations: The Roma Case. Frontiers in Education, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00009

Google Scholar Crossref

Habermas, J. (1981). The Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Theory_of_Communicative_Action.html?id=kuFhjNZuHTAC&pgis=1

Google Scholar Crossref

Khalfaoui, A. (2019). Continuidades y cambios en la identidad de la mujer gitana. Un estudio de caso. International Journal of Roma Studies, 1(2), 185–203. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijrs.2019.4649

Google Scholar Crossref

Khalfaoui, A., García-Carrión, R., & Villardón-Gallego, L. (2020). Bridging the gap: engaging Roma and migrant families in early childhood education through trust-based relationships. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28(5), 701–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2020.1817241

Google Scholar Crossref

Macías-Aranda, F., García-Espinel, T., Valls-Carol, R., & González-García, J. (2019). Del gueto a la universidad: el impacto de las actuaciones educativas de éxito en la inclusión social y educativa del pueblo gitano. En A. Arellano & M.A. Sotés (Eds.), Juventud gitana: retos educativos en la transición a la vida adulta (pp. 65-112). Barcelona: Graó.

Google Scholar Crossref

Munté, A. (2015). The Naked Wind Turns/the Corner in Surprise: A Transformative Narrative About Roma Inclusion. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(10), 893–898. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415614033

Google Scholar Crossref

Munté, A., de Vicente, I., Matulic, V., & Amador, J. (2020). The Invisible Feminist Action of Roma Families. Affilia, 35(4), 516–532. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920906780

Google Scholar Crossref

Puigvert, L. (2001). Las otras mujeres. Apertura, 192.

Google Scholar Crossref

Racionero-Plaza, S. (2015). Reconstructing Autobiographical Memories and Crafting a New Self Through Dialogic Literary Gatherings. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(10), 920–926. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415611689

Google Scholar Crossref

Redondo-Sama, G., Díez-Palomar, J., Campdepadrós, R., & Morlà-Folch, T. (2020). Communicative Methodology: Contributions to Social Impact Assessment in Psychological Research. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 286. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00286

Google Scholar Crossref

Sánchez-Aroca, M. (1999). Voices inside schools - La Verneda-Sant Martí: A school where people dare to dream. Harvard Educational Review, 69(3), 320–336. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.69.3.gx588q10614q3831

Google Scholar Crossref

Searle, J. R., Soler, M., & CREA (Organización : Barcelona, E. (2004). Lenguaje y ciencias sociales : diálogo entre John Searle y CREA. El Roure.

Google Scholar Crossref

Serradell, O. (2015). Aisha, From Being Invisible to Becoming a Promoter of Social Change. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(10), 906–912. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415614030

Google Scholar Crossref

Soler Gallart, M. (2017). Achieving Social Impact: Sociology in the Public Sphere. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60270-7

Google Scholar Crossref

Soler, M., & Flecha, R. (2010). Desde los actos de habla de Austin a los actos comunicativos. Perspectivas desde Searle, Habermas y CREA. Revista Signos, 43(SUPPL. 2), 363–375. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09342010000400007

Google Scholar Crossref

Soler, M., & Gómez, A. (2020). A Citizen’s Claim: Science With and for Society. Qualitative Inquiry, 26(8–9), 943–947. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077800420938104

Google Scholar Crossref

Torras-Gómez, E., Ruiz-Eugenio, L., Sordé-Martí, T., & Duque, E. (2021). Challenging Bourdieu’s Theory: Dialogic Interaction as a Means to Provide Access to Highbrow Culture for All. SAGE Open, 11(2), 21582440211010740. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211010739

Google Scholar Crossref

Valero, D., Elboj, C., Plaja, T., & Munté Pascual, A. (2020). Social work and the Roma community: elements to improve current practices. European Journal of Social Work, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2020.1857705

Google Scholar Crossref

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Vygotsky, Lev S. (1986). Thought and language (A. Kozulin, Trans.). https://doi.org/10.1037/11193-000

Google Scholar Crossref

Weber, M. (1978). Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretative Sociology. Berkeley: Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretative Sociology. Berkeley:, 212–221, 240–245. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Google Scholar Crossref

Wells, C. G. (1999). Dialogic inquiry : towards a sociocultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Wright, E. O. (2010). Envisioning real utopias. London: Verson

Google Scholar Crossref

Downloads

Published

2021-07-15

Almetric

Dimensions

How to Cite

Lopez de Aguileta, G. (2021). Dialogic Literary Gatherings: Opening Up Spaces of Meaning Creation and Social Transformation for Roma People. International Journal of Roma Studies, 3(2), 131–151. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijrs.8633

Issue

Section

Articles