Inclusion is more than a buzzword - it’s a transformative practice.

By Begonya Saez Tajafuerce, UAB

In ULALABS we emphasize the fostering transformative learning through interpersonal and interregional Learning Communities, leveraging existing living labs' networks and experimental capacities. These communities, grounded in the concepts of Transformative Learning and Mutual Learning Communities, are envisioned as cross-regional networks of practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders who engage in shared learning processes.

(…) The other central element of our approach is the acknowledgement that inclusion is a foundational aspect that should not just be an affixed buzzword. Inclusion, in its most robust and transformative sense, should not be reduced to the mere incorporation of diverse individuals into pre-existing structures based on stereotypes. When understood through the lens of intersectional gender theory, inclusion becomes a dynamic, relational and political practices aimed at dismantling structural inequalities and reconfiguring the terms of participation, belonging, and recognition. For the ULALABS Learning Communities model, which seeks to foster equitable and sustainable collective learning processes across different European contexts, articulating inclusion in intersectional gender terms provides a vital foundation for creating socially just environments that are attentive to the complexities of lived experiences, including political complexities.

In this sense, inclusion entails acknowledging that identity does not simply consist of given data, but, it rather is a “political point of departure” (Alcoff, p. 431,1988), and accordingly that individuals are situated within overlapping systems of power and disadvantage, meaning privileges, and thereby affected by a whole variety of implicit or explicit discriminatory strategies that need to be confronted and tackled in participatory contexts such as learning communities for them not to be reproduced. It is not enough to "add" women or LGBTQIA+ individuals to existing educational or organizational practices. Instead, inclusion must engage in a critical transformation of the conditions that have historically excluded from these spaces and practices certain bodies, voices and knowledges.

While representation is an important starting point to avoid discrimination, inclusion in intersectional gender terms extends far beyond numeric or colorful diversity. An inclusive space or practice is not defined solely by the presence of women, migrants, racialized people, or disabled individuals. Rather, it speaks of a space and practice where diversity shapes the rules of procedure, the modes of engagement, the learning tools and dynamics, the linguistic frameworks, and the epistemological assumptions of the —each time anew— given community. 

This understanding invites a shift from integration —where marginalized individuals are expected to adapt to dominant norms and thereby further marginalized in so-called participatory processes that stress neoliberal logics of exclusion (Antonucci et al., 2022)— to participatory reconfiguration, where the norms themselves undergo revision and challenge. In the context of Learning Communities, this means fostering environments where individuals and collectives standing with different positionalities, that is, occupying different politically shaped locations, make use of their capacity to create meaning. Individuals and collectives holding different power shaped identities and claiming different privileges must be welcomed in learning spaces and practices. Moreover, their situated knowledges are considered indispensable to the ongoing learning process and to the therefrom delivered results.

As mentioned before, identity understood in intersectional terms does not refer to fixed biologically given attributes. Rather, it is relationally, historically and socially shaped in a process affected by privileges and power. Gender norms are contextual, and they vary across regions, generations and institutions. Furthermore, they are constantly reestablished through resistance, negotiation, and transformation. They are learned and unlearned by collective experiences, and, at the same time, they constitute learning processes.

Did we get your attention?

This excerpt is part of our upcoming publication, MUTUAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES: ROADMAP LEARNING(S) FROM THE ULALABS EXPERIENCE, specifically from the chapter Inclusion in Intersectional Gender Terms: A Framework for Learning Communities. In it, we delve into reflections and practical strategies—ranging from foundational practices like identifying and validating community members, to articulating shared goals, facilitating meaningful dialogue, and evaluating impact through affective and participatory methods.

Stay tuned!

Begonya Saez Tajafuerce is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Her research focuses on the definition and representation of individual and collective identity.