Julia Preece is Professor of Adult Education at the Durban University of Technology and Honorary Professor at the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State in South Africa. She has published widely on adult education, lifelong learning and community engagement.

• 1. Setting the Scene: The Wider Political Context 2. Who has Authority to Know? 3. That’s not a University Subject 4. ‘We Don’t Really Belong’ 5. Setting the Local Scene – the Learner Contexts 6. Excluded Versions of Truth 7. The Creation of Social Exclusion 8. Combating Social Exclusion: Being Inclusive About Difference 9. Changing Identities 10. Combating Social Exclusion Re-Assessed 11. Conclusions and Recommendations.