Frameworks of transformative learning and feminist research and pedagogy are used in this study to examine the experiences of a group of adult learners in New York City during and following the attack on the World Trade Centers of 9/11/01. Building on initial research into the experience, a group of international adult educators enrolled in graduate classes further explored the experiences from multiple perspectives in collaboration with the researcher. What can feminist pedagogy and research reveal about adult learning through a societal tragedy? How might transformative learning assist in understanding how people coped during this time? A small research group conducted a qualitative study that used narrative and dialogue to build a greater understanding of the meaning of the learners’ experiences. Results of the study include recognizing the diversity of experience and perceptions across and within national boundaries, posing recommendations for higher education and adult education, cultivating an experience where individuals felt they were being heard, validated, and having an effect, and creating a social action response by extending the reflection and dialogue to other settings.
In the midst of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center (WTC) attacks and tragedy, many North American educators had to determine ways to recognize the grief and hardship, empathize with their colleagues and learners, and forge a trail of learning through unknown territory. For those living and working in New York City this was an especially difficult pathway to discover and navigate. Indeed research participants referred to the tragic experience as a ‘crucible.’ Exposed to extreme conditions that created a severe trial, the results were not lessons for the moment alone, but experiences that changed their perspectives in significant and lasting ways. In some ways the experience opened new possibilities through research and learning with our student-colleagues as transformative learning offered a valuable framework from which to approach the situation. This paper presents one such experience as international adult educators from a graduate education class in New York City collaborated as participant-researchers with the professor to explore the meaning of the 9/11/01 tragedy for themselves through a lens of adult learning.
Based on prior research on transformative learning in many adult education settings, including higher education (e.g., King, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003; King & Wright, 2003), I developed classroom activities that would help learners explore and gather data about their experiences during and after the 9/11/01 crisis. These activities focused on using adult learning theory to understand the experiences through critical reflection, questioning, and dialogue. What does a feminist pedagogical perspective reveal about adult learning through this crisis? How might transformative learning theory assist in understanding how people cope during a mass tragedy?
The original study is considered Phase I of this research and the results have been published (King, 2003) and extensively focus on the relationship between transformative learning and grief theory in the experiences of these adult educators/learners. After analyzing the data, however I became more aware of the international representation of this group of participants and considered the implications because of the impact of the tragedy for the residents of this multinational city. It was recognized that this situation posed an unusual opportunity to explore and examine transformative learning in crisis through multiple perspectives. At that point I invited three international participants, one each from Sri Lanka, Belize, and Zimbabwe to join me and engage in a collaborative qualitative research group inquiry into these experiences. This paper reveals the findings and results of this research study, which I refer to as Phase II.
In contrast to more traditional forms of academic inquiry, this collaborative research experience included an international team of adult educators starting with a framework of transformative learning to share experiences, explore their meanings, build understanding, and propose recommendations for education. This feminist research and pedagogy design naturally flowed through sharing and validating experiences and opportunities to build, voice, and enact responses to the learning. These responses included social action dimensions of transformative learning, and they were highly valued by the research teams as outcomes of both learning and research.
In looking at a mass tragedy, many lenses of examination may be applied. However in considering that adult learning can span a lifetime, one can begin to wonder how understanding experiences, dialoguing about meaning, and building understandings may assist adults in coping with the constellation of experiences, emotions, and questions that erupt. Transformative learning offers a way to think about how adults question and reintegrate new perspectives of understanding into their lives; grief theory describes a progression of emotion and coping; and feminist pedagogy and multicultural education provide a basis by which to include multiple perspectives and return to a constructivist development of meaning and understanding. These major areas form the theoretical background of this research and learning experience.
As transformative learning theory has developed over the years, Mezirow’s (1978) original concepts have evolved to include many additional dimensions. More than a single focus on cognitive processes, recent research and theory development have included the unconscious world, imagination, emotions, and global consciousness (Baumgartner, 2001; Mezirow & Associates 1990, 2000; Taylor, 2000, 2001). Amidst the many debates of the theoretical nature of transformative learning continues to emerge the realization that this theory offers a valuable perspective by which to understand some of the multiple dimensions and depths of classroom and lifelong learning (Taylor, 2000). Transformative learning describes how adults experience a dramatic change of perspective, worldview, or frame of understanding as they critically reflect and dialogue about their beliefs, values, and assumptions. Mezirow’s theory has led the way for adult learning theory to describe and understand the process of questioning, testing, developing and adopting radically new understandings of adults’ worlds. These dramatic changes occur over a period of time as learners deliberate options and negotiate this pathway of transformation. In the classic Mezirow model a “trigger event” creates a point of disequilibrium in which learners are set off-balance from their familiar orientation and need to make sense of new experiences.
In this particular higher education classroom, it became apparent that the 9/11 crisis might serve as a ‘trigger event’ for transformative learning. The tragedy had the potential to challenge current beliefs, values, and assumptions. Furthermore, possible linkages between grief theory and learning theory were suggested. In fact, Flanagan (1999) and Scott (1997)’s discussions of transformative learning recognize that learning and loss are evident in transitional phases of learning among adults in some contexts. However, this study pursues the grief-transformative learning connection from another direction and begins to examine learning in experiences of grief.
Seven stages of grief are classically identified (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Although grief is a complex and personal experience, grief theory offers a valuable framework from which to examine it (Bee, 2000 Taylor, P., 2000). Indeed P. Taylor (2000) delineates strategies to facilitate adult’s coping with change that emerge from grief theory. The concept of ‘coping’ is key as it represents a process of contending with hardships or difficulties and working to overcome them. Realizing that in mass tragedy, both grief and change are forced upon adults, these concepts remind us that grief, defined as deep mental anguish, and bereavement are processes that evolve and take time (Sanders, 1989). The grieving process does not end after a specified time of mourning, but instead in many cultures, adults move through multiple phases of bereavement as they grow in their understanding and coping with their loss. ‘Reorganization’ is a term used in the literature to describe the understanding gained throughout bereavement (Bowlby, 1989; Copeland et al., 1995). Using both the transformative learning and bereavement frameworks, greater understanding of the experiences, the needs, and adult and higher education responses to mass tragedy may be gained.
The multicultural and feminist theoretical bases of this study provide an understanding of multiple perspectives and diverse understandings. The literature on adult multicultural learning and development (Baumgartner & Merriam, 2000; McLaren, 1993), feminist pedagogy (Kaufmann, 2000; Maher & Tetreault, 1994; Tisdell, 1995), and multicultural counseling (Ponterotto & Associates, 2001) support an understanding that people from diverse cultures and nations may find that they look at experiences from very different vantage points. In this context, multiple understandings may be appreciated for the broader and more complex understanding they offer learners, educators, and researchers in beginning to better understand the broad spectrum of possible human experience and interpretation of that experience.
A feminist pedagogical perspective was applied as the research focus group focused on personal narrative accounts, multiple perspectives, exploring meaning individually and through dialogue, and constructing any understandings that were possible (Kaufmann, 2000; Maher & Tetreault, 1994). Rather than focusing on power issues that are more central to critical pedagogy (Glenn, 2002; Maina, 2002), the emphasis of the dialogue and analysis was on developing meaning from experience, which is a central element of feminist pedagogy (Kaufmann, 2000; Maher & Tetreault, 1994). The research group engaged in data gathering on several levels, and group sessions were audio-taped. The group pursued several steps to extend the original research study from a different theoretical perspective than the original one of only transformative learning and grief theory, the approach was to share experiences through narrative and dialogue and develop meaning and understanding through that process together. While critical multicultural theory offers an opportunity to examine how critical voices of experience and silence may be marginalized in the curriculum, feminist pedagogy and research provide a basis for valuing focus on and close examination of meaning from multiple perspectives (Kaufmann, 2000).
Additionally, while realizing that no one person may speak adequately or appropriately for a cultural group, this international research group sought to delve into multiple understandings of people with very different lived experiences. By valuing multiple perspectives and ways of knowing and realizing that views different from our own can help us understand both others and ourselves better, the literature and growing tradition of multiculturalism and feminist pedagogy are fundamental contributors to the research’s conceptualization, implementation, analysis, and interpretation. Building upon the multiple layers of understanding offered by transformative learning, grief theory, and feminist pedagogy this research experience was pursued to explore how adults might view and respond to mass tragedy from a stance of transformative learning.
This section provides salient points of the Phase I research in order to understand the background and original data. The Phase I research evolved into further research and inquiry that is presented in this paper (Phase II). Phase I was a descriptive qualitative study that examined the frameworks of transformative learning and grief theory in the understanding of the 9/11/01 tragedy among 19 adult learners/educators enrolled in a graduate education class in New York City. These 19 learners participated by writing reflective essays, answering survey questions, participating in small group discussions (focus groups), and completing follow-up surveys. The original research included administering an open-ended questionnaire and using these responses to guide focus groups 2.5 months after 9/11 (November, 2001). Follow-up of these experiences included an additional questionnaire at 10 months (July, 2001). Analysis of these Phase I data included coding of themes, content analysis, and member-checking of initial results.
As described in the previously published research (King, 2003), the class that the learners were enrolled in was a course on adult education that included active participation, critical reflection, and dialogue. A feminist pedagogy approach was used in this adult education class because the professor wanted the learning to connect to the lives of the learners, build on their experiences and reveal the concepts and issues from multiple perspectives (Kimmell, 1999). Based on the values and educational philosophy of the instructor this approach demonstrates feminist pedagogical practices (Kimmell, 1999; Tisdell, 1995).
This approach was specifically demonstrated through interactive discussions expressing opinions and interpretations of stories of adult development from different cultures. In addition, learners kept journals of their teaching and learning experiences to explore how it interplayed with the formal course content. Learners also participated in frequent small group collaboratives to address case studies and develop alternate solutions. Additionally, learners participated in the survey, focus groups, and follow-up aspects of the research to reflect on their experiences during the WTC tragedy. The benefits of feminist pedagogy in this setting were primarily developing personal understanding, introducing a broader experience and perspective of diverse views from theirs, and providing experiences with strategies they could use personally and professionally to develop meaning from experience on a continuing basis.
Nineteen of the class members agreed to participate in the research and although it is a small sample, the learners included a diverse cross-section of higher education learners. The students represented the following countries of origin: 13 from the USA, two from Belize, two from Ghana, one from Sri Lanka, and one from the Dominican Republic. Their racial identification included 10 identifying themselves as white, five Black, two Hispanic, one Asian, and one ‘Other’. Fourteen of the participants were female and 5 were male. The average age of the participants was M= 39.6 years while the range was 22-68. The respondents ranged in the length of study at this private institution from their 1st semester to their 9th, with the mean being 2.9 semesters. Their occupations included adult educators from many settings including English as a Second Language (ESOL) and literacy educators, priests, library specialists, staff developers, admissions counselors, higher education faculty and administrators, scientists, and administrative assistants. While recognizing the limitations of a small convenience sample, the diversity of country of origin, race, age, and occupations seems to offer a preliminary basis for beginning to understand learners’ experiences.
The starting point for the design of the questionnaire was an instrument that had been originally designed and validated for the study of transformative learning experiences in higher education classrooms (King, 1997). This questionnaire was revised to include questions about grief stages and to query respondents about their experiences and perceptions of their learning after the 9/11 tragedy. The experiences were understood to have many elements and varied formats were used in the survey including short answer, checklists, essays, and focus group questions to allow for their multidimensional depth. Rather than being a definitive or final record of learners’ entire understandings, the survey and learning experiences were designed to allow learners to explore their learning and understandings both individually and in small groups. The questionnaires and focus groups were used in a November 2001 session and then a parallel follow-up format was used in July 2001. In the follow-up format, respondents were asked to offer their comments and current reflection and to review selected initial findings.
Four major themes of transformative learning emerged from the Phase I research data: the loss of feelings of security, the realization that life is temporal, a reexamination of priorities, and greater patriotism. For some people these were new perceptions, for others they were emotions and perspectives that were dramatically heightened because of their experiences. Regarding thinking about their experience alongside of the stages of grief, 2.5 months after 9/11 the participants strongly identified with loss (89%), anger (72%), depression (72%), bargaining (67%), and hope (67%). Ten months after the crisis started, the respondents had shifted more towards hope (100%), loss (80%), and anger, depression, and acceptance (60% each). This study also revealed that the learners benefited from using the two frameworks of transformative learning and grief stages together as they afforded both a cognitive- and emotion-based progression in examining their experience (King, 2003).
After the Phase I research of the 19 learners was completed in the late summer of 2002, a purposeful sample of three international participants from Phase I were invited to join the researcher and extend the research by exploring their experiences further and interpreting the findings from multiple perspectives. The research group participants were selected as representative of different experiences and areas of adult education. This qualitative research focus group pursued Phase II of the research and concentrated on sharing their own experiences, understanding the data from different perspectives, and dialoguing about the meaning for adult learners and for institutions of post-secondary and adult education. The research questions explored in Phase II of the study were: If present, what themes of transformative learning were evident to them in the data? If any, what did the frameworks of transformative learning and grief offer in understanding these experiences? What does an international lens provide in interpreting these lessons? How can adult and post-secondary education respond in times of crisis?
A qualitative research design was selected in order to provide a descriptive research account of these experiences (Cranton, 1996; Creswell, 1998). As explained above, this research used several aspects of feminist research and pedagogy in emphasizing personal narrative and exploring meaning and building understanding. This group offered the opportunity for peer member evaluation, analysis, and interpretation to not only support internal validity of qualitative research, but also provide greater exploration of meaning consistent with feminist pedagogy and research. By engaging in a dialogue where they were building an understanding together the research group was facing central points of feminist pedagogy of mastery, authority, voice, and positionality (Maher & Tetreault, 1994). By using multiple methods and points of data gathering, the researchers desired to uncover their experiences and those of the learners in Phase I. This experience unfolded as follows: the group individually developed essays regarding their experiences of the 9/11 tragedy; they met for a discussion of those experiences; they reviewed the collated responses and initial analysis from participants in the original study (Phase I), and discussed those findings in light of the posed research questions; they responded verbally and in writing to the research questions in light of the findings; and, finally, they revisited the analysis verbally and in written responses to develop a representative interpretation of their research.
Analysis of the research was pursued on several levels. Free responses regarding transformative learning, the grief process, and their connections had been evaluated for recurrent and emergent themes separately in the Phase I research. The narratives of the research group and transcriptions of collaborative sessions were also evaluated for emergent themes. Analysis included coding of responses by constant-comparison for embedded categories (Cresswell, 1998). Open coding (Cresswell, 1998) was completed through iterations, including several independent and group efforts to come to a consensus of analysis. In addition, a heuristic approach was used by the research group to reflect on their experiences and seek to understand their meaning (Moustakas, 1990). In the research focus group, the researchers were engaged in understanding both their own and the Phase I participants’ responses as they reviewed the data and preliminary analysis to discuss its meaning during the work sessions. This understanding proceeded not only from personal experience, but also with an understanding of potentially diverse cultural perspectives and understandings.
Reliability of the coding process was supported as each of the research group members brought these findings together and quickly found agreement on the themes that they had identified in their individual analysis of the data (Creswell, 2003). Validity of the coding was evident as member-checks of the themes were conducted among participants in both phases of the research. The research group also engaged in several conversations focusing on peer-debriefing (Creswell, 2003).
The research focus group included members from each of the following countries of origin: Sri Lanka, Belize, Zimbabwe, and the USA. With this distribution it was hoped that diverse perspectives could be represented. The Sri Lankan participant was a male priest in his 30s who was working in a New York City parish and had been in the country two years. He had experience teaching in a seminary in Sri Lanka and was now pursuing studies to enable him to work with ESOL and literacy students. The woman from Belize is in her 40s and is a program director of an adult education program being developed in her native country. She is currently working in business and has extensive experience working with adult learners in the workplace. The woman from Zimbabwe is in her 40s has been in the USA 25 years and is teaching business and computer courses part-time in a community college in Manhattan. She intends to use her adult education studies to develop basic skills classes for women in her native country. The USA participant, the initial researcher, is in her 40s, has been a professor of adult education at the university for six years, was from the East Coast, and has an Italian-Irish cultural background. Her experience includes working in the contexts of religious education, technical, postsecondary, and higher education. The research group’s variety of experiences as adult educators provide an unusual basis upon which to build understanding of applying adult learning to experiences of mass social tragedy. The research group participated in a collaborative format that focused on sharing experiences, dialogue, and understanding as co-researchers and co-learners.
Data regarding the four research questions that this study examines are presented and discussed in this section. The findings and discussion include transformative learning themes, transformative learning and grief combined, an international lens, the ‘crucible’ of learning, and educational responses. An overarching discussion of the implications of the study and its limitations are presented in the sections that immediately follow.
Regarding the themes of transformative learning identified in the Phase I study, this collaborative research group recognized an additional perspective of how learners understood themselves and their variable contexts differently because of the 9/11 experience. While confirming the themes of the Phase I research, the research group also indicated that another cluster of themes was evident to them. The Phase I themes were new perspectives of viewing themselves, the USA, world, and themselves within each of these contexts. The following quotes describe the changes the learners had identified from among the Phase I data and the two additional themes.
Life is more precious and shorter than we think. Every moment and every day counts even more now. Quality time with loved ones is more important than ever before. Also, we truly are a ‘global village’ and what affects one person ultimately affects everyone.
[I] no longer believe that the USA and all of its wealth and power can guarantee the basic freedoms we cherish. We must (citizens) pay a price for them and at the same time guard against violating anyone else’s freedoms. I also began to look at the USA as perceived by ‘non-westerners’, something I hadn’t really done before.
[Regarding changes, the] change in [my] lifestyle is based on fear [as I] no longer viewed the U.S. as a protected world power. A clear understanding that our environment can become a war zone. Citizens are responsible for their own safety.
A new understanding of other cultures and their experiences/beliefs/values. A new appreciation for freedom and democracy. New knowledge in regards to history and religion. An urgency to be with the ones I love. A re-evaluation of the meaning of life.
I’m more fatalistic. I expect something ‘bad’ to happen in the near-future, [and more distant] future. I don’t have the desire to travel or expand my experiences in a physical way.
Everyday I think about what will happen next. I do not feel safe anymore. I view this world as unsettled.
Life/tomorrow is no longer guaranteed. What am I waiting for? Why am I saving the good stuff? I should be thinking towards things that fulfill me more, take the risk/plunge into something that I’ve talked about, dreamed about, but haven’t acted upon to remain SAFE…there is no guaranteed safe[ty].
If possible, my world view has not changed, but how I view myself in relation to this new world has changed and how I act or behave on the ideas I entertain has changed since 9/11.
I don’t have the desire to travel or expand my experiences in a physical way-I take more interest in what is happening in my house, in my neighborhood. I seek out people more; [I] have a more intense feeling of isolation.
The different grouping of learning themes from the Phase I groupings demonstrates what might be seen as a movement of changing perspectives back and forth between external and internal worlds for participants. That is to say that the ‘trigger event’ was external and came from outside of the individuals to impact them and the larger society. In turn, as many of the research participants did, one way adults might respond to such events is by understanding the experiences through a transformation in an internal dimension, their understanding of themselves. In addition, many respondents understood others and their world in different ways because of the experience. In this way their views of the outside world were transformed. In contrast to isolated formal learning, these experiences of transformative learning were dynamically embedded in not only images of the self, but also of the larger context, both known and unknown.
The research group strongly identified with the Phase I concept that some of the emotions and perspectives were dramatically heightened because of their experiences, and may not have been entirely new. There was a sense that the responses to the tragedy built on, interacted with, and developed in conjunction with prior experiences. It is from this base that the researchers saw how feminist pedagogy could be embedded in a valuable way into formal adult learning experiences. Rather than classroom learning emphasizing content mastery and skills only, questioning and discussion about critical incidents could be an educational intervention and response that could lead to further transformative learning experiences.
As the research group developed their narratives and told their stories, a progression of experience became apparent. While the progression was not identical for everyone, an overall development emerged. In fact, that is how they related their stories. Not only were they related in a chronological format (although not specified to do so), they also relayed a progressive understanding and way of coping with the experiences. The group found that the lens of transformative learning and grief theory were helpful in understanding the experiences that they characterized both as ‘wrestling’ and a ‘crucible’ of learning.
One can wonder what was different with this event compared to other crises? Among the conditions that contributed to the impact of the tragedy were the massive scale of the loss and immediate population impacted, the resulting extreme sense of vulnerability on the USA mainland (New York City and Pennsylvania) and Pentagon, and the lack of declaration of war. The people could not walk away; they did not have the option to ignore 9/11 or brush it off. The metropolitan area was forced to deal with the tragedy, fear, grief, and unknown daily as the rubble was searched, human remains were found and not found, and armed forces guarded the city and transportation centers. In the words of the Phase II participants, this situation forged a ‘crucible’ for learning that is well described by transformative learning theory and grief stages.
Regarding grief and transformation, the research focus group shared written and verbal narratives of the overwhelming experiences of tragedy and grief. They described in detail how they experienced great confusion, fear, despair, and anger. The research group specifically identified these aspects that occurred as common themes through their accounts: the wrestling with understanding and emotion, a realization that ‘life goes on,’ a development of community and compassion, a ‘crucible’ of learning through tragedy, and the element of time.
As might be expected, strong emotions rushed forth with the events of 9/11/01. The emotional upheaval created a profound urgency to comprehend and cope with confusing messages, sights, sounds, experiences, and information all being experienced simultaneously. These extended quotes describe how two members of the research group progressively grappled with the surging emotions and urgency to understand the tragedy during it.
I have never before actually witnessed grown men … fall to pieces. As we watched the attack and the building crumbling, they totally lost it. I actually saw people just slide down to the floor and sit there crying …. And these were grown men who on a ‘normal’ day were [so confident]… it really touched people… the whole idea of being vulnerable and being violated, those were the words that came to my mind. I also felt that sense of helplessness, that I stood there and I couldn’t ease anyone’s pain.
About 8:45am I was on a bus on Ninth Avenue going to work and we heard on the radio that there has been a plane crash at the WTC… and they said there’s been a crash at the WTC, a big plane. But all this was happening so fast, that you didn’t have time to think. I felt that this was like in the movies, But then ten minutes later on, I’m watching what I’m seeing on television, it didn’t sink until when I actually saw the second plane go into the crash, and I felt my first reaction was, I went into denial that it cannot happen to the United States. But at the back of my mind, I reflected about the bombing that had happened at 1993 at the WTC, and that’s when I started to panic. What was next, we needed to pray, ‘Is the world coming to an end’? and everything was not certain. People started coming into my room, who never used to come to my [class]room. And then my next reaction was to pick up the phone, but the phones went dead. So no one could really get in touch with anybody… By that time, at 10:15am, on Tenth Avenue, we started seeing a lot of people walking … towards the North. At 11 o’clock we left and no one was talking. People had this blank face on them. We walked to 79th without saying a word to anyone. That’s when we started seeing people with ashes and smoke on them… And then … there was a gentleman who had walked from Wall Street and to see a man cry was a thing that I really felt like there was nothing I could do, but just to touch him. He said, you don’t understand; he had ten people who were on the WTC. These were like shattered dreams.
The immediate moments had great emotional impact, but the tumult continued to unfold for days for residents of the New York area.
The whole thing after that, the next day, I was brave enough to go to the WTC-we walked but we couldn’t go other places, and I felt like there’s nothing that I can do. …[as I understood more] and I saw the other side of it to say, two wrongs will not make a right, when people started saying [the USA should] ‘attack’. And I really felt being the country [firsthand] in these things. That in the United States people go into other countries and see people being killed, but when you actually witness it, it takes a different toll on people. .. I found that after six months, when the media was telling us ‘let’s go back to “normal”,’ that word ‘normal’ should have never been used in the sense that it is never going to be normal. The world has changed: we have to look at life in a different way.
Through these accounts we see the unfolding of incomprehensible events as people struggled to make sense of the events through waves of reasoning and emotional responses. These were intense experiences in which people wrestled with emotions and coping strategies on several levels. Retrospectively they also learned about themselves and their changing perceptions of the world.
As indicated in the following quotes, a grounding in reality brought some people to the realization they must continue to cope the best they could. These quotes are about experiences of changing perspectives just a few weeks after the original crisis. They are examples of how people placed the experience of tragedy into a greater context. These quotes demonstrate the helplessness, victimization, and lifelong changes of perspectives and reasoning that the participants pursued in understanding great grief and developing a vision for the future. They are not pretentious calls to persevere; rather they represent heartfelt efforts to make sense of these experiences.
Also I found that in the media there was something from a different perspective, they not only dealt with the grief, but also the buildup, so there was the virtue of courage, there were speeches from the mayor and all the others, that let us stand united. So I thought that was positive thinking, rather than just remaining in grief.
… no matter how deeply we hurt in whatever circumstance, unfortunately, life does go on. … I remember the first time that I ever had to acknowledge that was when my mother died; and you know, heretofore, I thought, if my mother dies, I am going to die too. And you know I took stock and actually stood and I said, ‘The world is still turning, people are going to work, and everything is actually the same except that I have lost my mother’. But that was a hard thing to accept, that even for me, I had to get up and function. I couldn’t stand in one place. So you know, it sounds cold hearted when you put it that way, that ‘life goes on’, but it does.
In the midst of the turmoil some participants grasped foundational perspectives that enabled them to look forward, to reach beyond the vast grief, and continue living. These are lifelong lessons they return to at different points.
Realizing that transformative learning describes a process of change, more themes flowed through the experience. In addition to the other themes, participants related looking to themselves and one another as they reached toward responses that would unite.
The priest shares how his words were capable of developing or encouraging acts of compassion and support:
Also I found that - if I used the word compassionate- a lot of people went there to help, if they could help, they were waving their hands, encouraging the firefighters. Compassion in terms of animals caught in the building, helping each other. A newly realized sense of family, community [was apparent].
Other participants reveal an interplay among community, compassion, and tolerance. The difficulties that Arabs and Arab-Americans faced during these days prompted much reflection about understanding one another and tolerance. Adult educators were especially aware of these dynamics not just because of the news broadcasts, but also because some of them had students of Arab decent who were frightened to appear in public.
One thing that came across was tolerance, that was one word that I kept hearing was kind of a new word for me. You know I take certain things for granted, you accept people for who and what they are. But I kept hearing that word over and over again-that we really have to focus on tolerance- but I kind of still don’t like that word, I prefer the word acceptance.
Compassion really was the general response to the tragedy in the following days and months. But as time has continued, I think more and more about tolerance. That just like we learn to ‘allow’ others to have different views, so must we work at building tolerance on a broader base. We must start with ourselves and then we can hope that it will eventually impact extremists. Apart from violence, tolerance for them, and tolerance for us.
However, in the midst of the tragedy the focus group members became aware of what they were learning. These were not “easy” or “comfortable” learning experiences, instead it was a tragic, heart-wrenching experience that reached to core questions of life, death, survival, and despair. Subject to extreme conditions, mass grief, overwhelming uncertainty, and sustained fear, the WTC tragedy created an environment in which lessons of life and grief were deeply engraved on human lives. The analogy of a crucible arose with the understanding that a crucible holds contents that are exposed to and changed by extreme conditions.
These experiences reached deep inside the participants’ lives. A crucible is not a superficial experience; rather it is an intense experience that bears long-term evidence, even a legacy. In this sense, the WTC tragedy created a crucible of learning from which to gain new understanding through transformative learning.
The whole thing after that, the next day, I was brave enough to go to the WTC-we walked but we couldn’t go other places, and I felt like there’s nothing that I can do. And then I walked to 16th Street. I had to write something on the wall. They had a place on Union Square and the only thing that I could say was: ‘We might be broken, but we are not destroyed’. I felt like the scripture that in Ezekiel, even the bones, can be revived. So on that part, my spirituality helped.
There was the fact that we were forced to face the tragedy. Forced to look at our ourselves, the nation, and the world. The struggle with the why and how: the personal, heartfelt examination of responsibility and questioning our values, assumptions, political stance in the world. You could not escape it.
The research group and author found it difficult to “relive” this theme. However the ‘crucible’ of learning represents not only the agony of the tragedy, but also the possibility of hope. This is an extremely difficult pathway of learning and one that is not soon forgotten- not intellectually, emotionally, nor spiritually. Many have found Thomas Paine’s 1776 famous quote, “These are the times that try men’s (sic) souls” as profoundly descriptive of the depth of this experience.
The experience, perception and effects of time were seen as very individualized elements. In these experiences participants were certain to say that they each had their own timetable.
This transformational learning process can’t be necessarily accelerated. People have their own time lines and that is fine. I went to some meetings in October after 9/11 and people from other parts of the country were talking about the USA’s contribution to the events that led to the 9/11 tragedy. I could not even listen. My heart was still too broken. I wasn’t at that point yet…. I was still too much in grief. Perhaps it was six months later I could consider that, I could begin to critically examine and reflect on the situation. Today a year later, I can step back even more and learn much more from the situation. The time that each individual needs can be very different based on their relationship to the tragedy and their personality.
Within each of these themes the research group witnessed transformative learning and grief interwoven. As people struggled to deal with complex and overwhelming tragedy they realized that life continues even when it seems to have stopped around them. Even within such confusion and distress, they looked beyond themselves and many recognized and responded with compassion. As people struggled to make meaning, they realized the intensity of the experiences that was providing them a “crucible” of learning. As the learners looked back in retrospect, they realized that time was felt so differently for each person. Transformative learning and grief were interwoven in understanding the progression and journey for many of these individuals during these events.
On the basis of how adult international students’ perspectives shaped the present findings, the research group developed a relativistic stance in terms of perceptions and understanding of data collected. Multiple perspectives on racial and national origins were provided in the research group because, for instance, some of the learners had a clearly minority experience in the USA. Alternatively, one person in the team always perceived herself as a minority. This person, however, can be viewed as part of the dominant culture in New York City. Conversely, another member of the research group had the opposite experience of thinking of herself as part of the dominant culture, but many people perceive her as part of the minority. The narratives and transcripts reveal that looking at how different cultures cope with grief through collective identities, ongoing support, and allowances for long-term grief offers insight into benefits of using an international lens in understanding a social crisis like 9/11/01. The following quotes offer a glimpse of how international issues and perspectives surfaced at different points and were considered by the research group in different ways.
Regardless of where you are, people will have their own opinions, views… And, this was not an American event, it was global.
People from my country feel [the] good-heartedness of American people who come to help others, and they condemned the WTC – because killing innocent people in the pretense of justice is wrong. I saw the coming together of politics, religion, and economics--- the struggle between powers in the Middle East and the US. Some say the UN should take position of peace and justice – not just the US.
But like you said, we grieve differently and it’s good to talk about it. Being someone who has come from a different culture, I noticed in the United States that there’s a funeral and they would talk and that’s it. But in our culture, there are certain things that might have to be discussed so that later on, it won’t be a burden on anyone. [It is] Expected to say how you feel. Maybe you might not feel like talking then, but later on, you are encouraged to say how you feel about this. It’s not that you are saying life goes on [as usual].
Reading the surveys [from Phase I] reaffirmed the value of life, community, eco-social, political, justice, and peace. There can be unity/diversity in the world.
As the group shared their stories and heard similarities and many differences, they could understand different perspectives. It was in coming to know the experience of the other, some through personal relationships, others through Phase I or Phase II of this research, that we began to understand the multiple perspectives better. By exploring the meaning of these events together in the research group, we were stepping into diversity in even further dimensions. The common slogan ‘unity in diversity’ became understood as ‘together in our diversity.’ This approach to research through feminist pedagogy was providing an invitation to and appreciation for different experiences and interpretations.
An additional important element was that none of the international members presumed to speak on the collective behalf of their countries of origin independently. They demonstrated this in two major ways. First, before attending the first group session they contacted people from their countries of origin to get a sense of their impressions and views as well. This was done by phone, email, and in-person communications. Second, they emphasized the fact that there are multiple views and diverse experiences among members of the same culture as they discussed and analyzed the events surrounding 9/11/01. They used the information to make their comments and narratives collective, that is coming from more than only their personal opinions. For this reason the emphasis in this article has been multiple international perspectives rather than trying to depict a monolithic generalization such as a “Belizean,” “Sri Lankan,” or “Zimbabwean” viewpoint. We had an unusual opportunity to view these experiences from multiple cultural perspectives and found this blend to be a rich element of the research and learning experience and did not want to disaggregate the insights. “Together in our diversity” was more important to the research group.
Regarding how adult and post-secondary education can respond in times of crisis, the research group had several suggestions and spontaneously took action. First, they determined that educators and institutions of higher education should continue to provide services and understanding for affected communities beyond the short-term, because even 12 months post 9/11, students had unresolved grief and incompletely reorganized perspectives about their city and the world. These services could include not only grief counseling, but also sessions on multiculturalism and using the frameworks of transformative learning and grief theory to examine personal experience.
Second, the research group and the original 19 participants highly valued dialogue about the events and their responses from the vantage point of transformative learning. Participants described the chances to talk within the classroom and within their own personal circles as healing or therapeutic; they also emphasized that these discussions need to be ongoing. The support and validation they experienced further mirrored the sense of unity they witnessed in the larger community during this time. This perspective on community continued to increase in importance as the dialogue continued.
Third, the research group participants also found it very important for them to have a voice in discussing the experiences, examining other’s accounts, and building understanding. They found that collaborative inquiry based in an adult learning context, with people from different cultures, was a very meaningful experience for them and recommended that it be supported in other formal educational experiences.
Fourth, the participants recommend that critical thinking skills, critical questioning, and individual and dialogue-based reflection are valuable experiences that need to be integrated into adult education classes. In fact two members of the research group demonstrated how these experiences were empowering by replicating the research activities with another higher education class. Their purpose was to extend the opportunity. They urgently wanted others to experience the benefits of the process. Focusing not just on post-secondary education, the research group identified that as adult educators we should be seeking out opportunities to develop such experiences with adult learners in many contexts. Dialogue, critical questioning, and reflections appear to hold valuable keys to coping with large-scale tragedy. Particularly for this group, these teachable moments seem to produce rather inclusive and all-embracing perspectives, suggesting that all viewpoints matter.
Given the small size of the sample and the qualitative design of the study, generalization beyond this group of learners should be done with caution. Instead, this study can indicate areas for future research and reflection upon roles and responsibilities in continuing higher education. The findings are indicative of the experiences of this specific group of adult learners enrolled at a private university during the 9/11/01 crisis within New York City itself. Additionally, the learners in this study were a volunteer/convenience sample, as learners were given the freedom not to participate. Therefore, it is with this understanding of the limitations of the research that several of its implications are proposed in the next section.
Transformative learning, grief, and multiculturalism and feminist pedagogy provided a revealing basis for using feminist pedagogy and research in this study. As these multiple streams and perspectives of learning and development were combined, opportunities to dialogue, consider meaning, make sense of tragedy and grief, and build understanding of oneself and one another unfolded. The experience and research offered several answers to how feminist pedagogy and research and transformative learning can help understand how adults cope with mass tragedy.
The specific results of the research were as follows: 1) extending our understanding of the events and its meaning for us and others, 2) recognizing the diversity of experience and perceptions across and within national boundaries, 3) posing recommendations for higher education and adult education, 4) cultivating an experience where individuals felt they were being heard, validated, and having an affect, and 5) precipitating social action by extending the reflection and dialogue to other settings. Adult learners were empowered to create new understanding and to put their learning into action. Bewildered by the severity of the September 11 incident, the adult students displayed intense grief, which they managed to express from differing viewpoints and experiences. In so doing, they learned more about themselves and others, their immediate communities, and the world at large in significant ways. This approach to learning seemed to have allowed for positive influences among the learners, and augmented meaningful perspective-sharing. They questioned their own values and assumptions and sought more inclusive understanding of themselves, others, and their world. Furthermore, experiences in this course offered greater understanding through dialogue and research that respected and sought to understand multiple perspectives and experiences of all participants.
The power of collaborative research seems to be inherent in the depth of participants’ experiences, dialogue of co-researchers and co-learners, multiple perspectives, and in participants’ overall reactions. Although an earlier study found highly cognitive and affective responses (King, 2003), this later study produced social action along with the personal transformations. Expanding their views of themselves and their worlds, these researchers wanted to intervene giving indication of growing possibilities for emancipatory learning through such experiences (Glenn, 2002; Imel, 1999).
In these ways, feminist pedagogy and research can serve as valuable teaching and learning strategies. Emerging from a great crisis, thrust into a ‘crucible’ of learning, a continuing journey of learning may unfold over time. This research indicates that by engaging in reflection, dialogue, and constructing meaning, adults may begin to see the transforming perspectives grow out of themselves, and to connect with their contexts, worlds, as well as to inform their personal actions.
Future researchers may explore the application of feminist or critical pedagogy, collaborative research, and transformative learning in several dimensions. First, research should be conducted in different crisis situations. Second, examination of adult learners’ experiences of learning in different contexts could provide insight into similarities and differences. Such contexts could include other institutions of higher education and other settings such as- adult literacy, workplace learning, informal learning, etc. Third, research utilizing critical pedagogy may bring very different results as a societal crisis may be used as a basis to understand experience and meaning through socially constructive discourses of power. Significant approaches and possibilities for emancipatory learning may develop from such initiatives. Fourth and final, exploration of different forms of collaborative research may provide multiple approaches for future application.
Over a period of 12 months, many of the adult learners participating in Phase I and Phase II of this study experienced a serious shift in emotions and perceptions from shock, fear, and intense grief resulting from the tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001. In a sense, almost all the participants resolved to understand others different from themselves as they learned to embrace compassion and strengths in building shared communities. The experiences following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center was a vivid lived experience of how tragedy can be a crucible of learning. A combination of feminist pedagogy and research of transformative learning offers one way of delving into that intense life experience in order to reveal learning for both individuals and others.
This article is based on collaborative research and analysis; the author wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Jane Bennett, Mavis Matewa, and George Perera.
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