ABSTRACT
The idea for the MA in Power, Participation and Social Change (MAP) was partly in response to the lack of applied, experiential and reflective learning opportunities for activists and development workers. The first term provides conceptual and theoretical grounding and exposure to key academic and practitioner-generated literature. When MAP began, students were largely mid-career professionals and practitioners playing various roles in development aid in settings in Latin America, Africa or Asia, or in community development in Europe or North America. For the students interviewed, the journey of MAP is recalled as full of excitement, stimulus, satisfaction and delight – even while some of them experienced phases of confusion or doubt during their Master’s connected to the deep processes of unlearning they went through. MAP teaching happens in the form of relatively informal and highly interactive workshop sessions of several hours’ duration.
