Disciplining Service Learning: Institutionalization and the Case for Community Studies

This article argues that the service-learning field has been pursuing the wrong revolution. Namely, service-learning has been envisioned as a transformative pedagogical practice and philosophical orientation that would change the fundamental policies and practices of the academy. However, its attempted institutionalization faces substantial barriers and positions service-learning in an uncomfortable double-bind that ultimately co-opts and neutralizes its agenda. This article argues that a truly transformative agenda may be to create a parallel movement to develop an "academic home" for service-learning within academic "community studies" programs. This "disciplining" of service-learning is the truly revolutionary potential of institutionalizing service-learning. [author]