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This chapter explores the effects of historical and current racism on the educational experiences of American Black males. The authors use critical race theory to illustrate how assumptions about culture and gender have subverted the egalitarian ideals of adult education. Teachers and students are urged to use critical reflection and open discussion about racial issues.

There is a rapidly growing body of scholarship highlighting the academic career experiences of faculty of color (see Aguirre, 2000;Gregory, 1995;Turner & Myers, 2000; Vargas, 2002). Faculty of color, working in historically White colleges and universities, have long emphasized the need for administrators and majority faculty to recognize and work toward alleviating both organizational and institutional barriers to their success and well-being as academics. This proliferation of research and anecdotal writing brings much needed attention to the challenges, obstacles, and triumphs that faculty of color encounter, as they seek to research, teach, and serve, in historically White colleges and universities. Faculty of Color: Teaching in Predominantly White Colleges and Universities, edited by Christine Stanley, and Neither White Nor Male: Female Faculty of Color, edited by Katherine Grace Hendrix, present compelling narratives in which an accomplished, diverse group of authors reveal the complex ways in which race, gender, class, and other identity markers affect their academic experiences. Concurrently, they present key strategies and recommendations for both individuals and institutions to create the change needed to enhance their academic career success while creating and sustaining an inclusive campus climate.In Faculty of Color, 25 scholars teaching in historically White institutions present the reader with eye-opening, critical narratives of their academic experiences. For example, Stanley's opening chapter includes both disturbing statistics on efforts of institutions to diversify their faculty as well as an organized, clearly written summary of the various challenges that faculty of color must battle in historically White colleges and universities. Unlike other texts on this topic that focus specifically on American faculty, this book centralizes various ethnic groups, such as Pacific Islanders, East Indians, and faculty from the Caribbean islands, who are often ignored or subsumed under American minority groups. Each chapter opens with the authors sharing their personal background, which includes early educational experiences, growing up in their home communities, and their overall path from college to the professoriate. Although the title of the book leads one to believe that the narratives focus solely on teaching, almost all the authors speak to the intersection of teaching, research, and service as it affects various aspects of their academic careers.

The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Work Experience in America presents insights from Americans who share their experiences related to critical issues concerning work alongside relevant literature describing the psychological impact of work. The author argues for a need to infuse psychological perspectives while including workers' voices into research concerning labor and work issues. These voices are from those on the front lines of rapid workforce changes. Furthermore, he argues that, holistically, Americans will see no advancement toward a "just and dignified approach to working" without including those workers who are most affected (p. 193). The purpose of the text is to extend readers beyond an economic view of numbers and data in articulating work and labor issues through rich narratives from people about their work experiences. The author points to decades of missed opportunities in research that have failed to capture working Americans' voices; sadly, he explains, economics has been the defining force informing public policies concerning work and how society understands it. This point and the central thesis that all workers deserve dignified and accessible employment serve as motivating forces behind this piece.Blustein leverages interview data and his experience as a therapist, career counselor, professor, and researcher in psychology and workforce development to inform the writing and convey Americans' psychological experiences concerning work. The book consists of a preface, nine chapters, notes, and an index. Each chapter begins with an introduction composed of historical or personal frames of reference for the material. Interview vignettes and emerging themes follow this section. The final part of each chapter introduces more recent psychological and sociological research, which aids further insight into work during periods of uncertainty, such as recessions and job eliminations due to technological advances.Chapter 1 embraces the significant role work plays in fulfilling psychological and social needs, while Chapter 2 explores human ambition for survival. Thus, combining the research presented in Chapter 1 and the vignettes in Chapter 2 permits readers to visualize Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Blustein presents stories concerning individuals' struggles for financial security after the Great Recession, which correlates to the hierarchy's safety and physiological needs. Chapter 3 expands the discussion of needs, explaining that being with others is key to an individual's well-being. Blustein also devotes attention to emerging constructs that impede the benefits of working with others, such as automation and harassment.Chapter 4 explores how individuals construct meaning and purpose in life and connect with the greater social good through work. These narratives offer a glimpse into the lives of those experiencing a deep connection to work, the social impacts of work, or those who struggle to find work. Bluestein discusses the experience of individuals' motivation for working in...

Adult and continuing education is an expansive and rapidly growing academic and practical field. The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education provides a comprehensive examination of the cutting edge research, theoretical developments, and practicebased issues that are important to the field. The field's top scholars and researchers offer criiical and insightful perspectives on various topics in adult education, from social justice and diversity to adult education in a changing global society. In addition, this 2010 edition of the Handbook serves as a critical reference for adult educators, students, researchers, and professionals who are interested in adult and continuing education. The essays in this edition not only serve as a foundation for the field, but they also illuminate the progress that has been made in the field and new directions and developments for the future. The Handbook is organized into six distinctive sections that highlight the major areas of research and practice in adult and continuing education. These areas focus on (a) adult learning and the adult learner, (b) theoretical approaches to the field, (c) adult and continuing education as a field of practice, (d) diversity (e) social justice, and (f) adult education in a global context. The book ends with critical reflections on the major developments in the field and conclusions that illuminate new directions for research and practice in adult and continuing education. A major strength of this handbook is the depth and breadth of content that illustrates the major areas of study and practice in the field as a whole. The opening section of the Handbook centers the general topic of adult learning and the adult learner in contemporary society. These authors highlight the changing face of formal and informal learning contexts, new research in adult development, and recent scholarship on group and organization learning.Eollowing the opening section, adult education scholars reflect on the state of theoretical production in the field. More specifically, these essays speak to the place and importance of theorizing and knowledge production in the field with a focus on policy, international adult education, histories of adult education, and interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks. In Section 3, the authors provide updates and new insights into adult and continuing education as it relates to program planning, assessment, and evaluation as well as the professionalization of the field.The fourth segment, titled "Diversity of Adult Learning Venues and Collective Endeavors," is perhaps the most comprehensive and detailed segment of the entire handbook. Erom adult education in the military to spirituality health, and Wellness, these essays highlight the significance of adult learning in a wide variety of contexts. Moreover, in this section, the authors speak to the ever-expanding nature of the field of adult education, in general.The final segments of the handbook speak to issues of social justice and adult continuing education within the context of globa...