In this interview, Prof. Sabine Schmidt-Lauff sits down with Dr. Michel Alhadeff-Jones to explore the relationship between time and power in adult education, through the lens of rhythm theory.

The conversation explores the role of rhythms in the ways adults experience time, power and learning throughout their lives. Revisiting experiences such as burnout and dropouts, Michel introduces concepts he has been working on, such as temporal alienation, arrhythmia and rhythmic intelligence. He also explains why temporal literacy and temporal imagination are important to help adults name, interpret and renegotiate the temporal tensions that shape their lives. He also suggests that adult educators may act as “temporal mediators” to support learners' efforts to synchronize the heterogeneous rhythms that compose their life, nurture the rhythms of transformation, and learn from diverse cultures of time in order to foster more balanced and emancipatory rhythms of living and learning.

The transcri...

EPALE is a European, multilingual, open membership community of adult learning professionals, including thousands of adult educators and trainers, guidance and support staff, researchers and academics, and policymakers. It is funded by the Erasmus+ programme and it is part of the European Union’s strategy to promote more and better learning opportunities for all adults.

This Fall EPALE is organizing is 2024 Community Conference online, on October 15, 16 and 17.

Michel Alhadeff-Jones will be one of the three keynote speakers invited to discuss his contribution on time, space and emancipatory education. In his speech, he will address questions such as: How can educational practices be redesigned to take into consideration the natural rhythms of human development and modern society's evolving dynamics? Can education help people give meaning to the temporal pressures they experience and truly liberate them from power structures that impose unsustainable cadences on them?Michel Alhadeff...