Theorising community gardens as pedagogical sites in the food movement

Abstract

Community gardens are rich non-school sites of informal adult learning and education in the North American food movement. To date, however, they have seldom been the subject of research in environmental education. This paper argues that theorising on public pedagogy and social movement learning from the field of Adult Education might effectively be applied to frame the study of learning in community gardens. A brief history of community gardens in the USA is first given, followed by an overview of theory on social movement learning. A review of empirical research on the individual and collective benefits of participation in community garden initiatives is then used to illustrate the potential for research on the connection between learning and these benefits. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for further research.

Keywords:

• community gardens
• adult learning
• public pedagogy
• social movement learning