Conference Program

In contexts marked by polycrisis, democratic erosion, social fragmentation, and growing experiences of political powerlessness and public anger, civic adult education faces a fundamental question: how can learning processes reconnect personal experience with public responsibility and participation? This paper proposes the German concept of “Sehnsucht” as a conceptual and pedagogical resource for democratic praxis in civic adult education. While often translated as longing, Sehnsucht denotes a culturally specific notion within German intellectual and literary traditions that combines desire, absence, and future orientation in a reflective and historically layered way.

Sehnsucht is understood here as an orientation towards what is missing in the present—justice unrealised, belonging insecure, dignity unrecognised, participation restricted. In this sense, it discloses the normative horizon of democracy. It makes visible the distance between lived experience and democratic commitments and identifies fields for reflection and transformation.

Drawing on the pedagogical thought of Paulo Freire, Sehnsucht is framed as a generative starting point for conscientização. Freire locates education in lived experience and develops it through critical dialogue about concrete contradictions. Sehnsucht can function as such a generative theme: it articulates experiences of exclusion, injustice, or unrealised possibility. Within dialogical settings, these articulations become shared inquiries into social conditions and collective responsibilities.

Freire’s concept of amorosidade further grounds this approach. Civic dialogue rests on an ethical commitment to respect, humility, and recognition of the dignity of others. Engaging Sehnsucht pedagogically therefore requires learning environments shaped by reciprocity and care. Dialogue serves the collective naming of reality and the development of socially responsible alternatives.

Illustrations from contemporary adult education practice show how participatory, narrative, and digitally mediated formats open spaces for these processes. Participants situate their own Sehnsucht within historical and socio-political contexts, connecting personal aspiration with civic responsibility. Recurring themes include recognition, justice, ecological responsibility, and meaningful participation. These patterns indicate that Sehnsucht frequently expresses democratic aspiration and an orientation towards shared futures.

Within the framework of Learning for Democracy / Democracy for Learning, this perspective links individual motivation and institutional practice. Sehnsucht can energise civic engagement and support the development of democratic competencies. Its dialogical exploration shapes learning spaces in which democracy is enacted through shared inquiry, reflective disagreement, and responsible participation.

By conceptualising Sehnsucht as democratic praxis, the paper contributes to debates on civic education and democratic resilience. It argues that civic adult education benefits from spaces in which unfulfilled aspirations are articulated, critically examined, and connected to public action. In this way, Sehnsucht operates as a forward-looking force within democratic life.