The Story of Alpha – In Three Parts

The article presents a retrospective history of the ALPHA series of publications. This action-research project (later called "cooperative research") on literacy and basic education is divided into three periods of seven years each. The first one, "Construction", involved assisting the nascent literacy movement in Québec and Canada by given it a theoretical, critical and ideological basis. In the second period, "Ruptures", the project distanced itself somewhat from the literacy movement, whose success, according to the author, was dubious. During the same period ALPHA systematised its critical function and internationalised its field of research. The third phase, "Wanderings", involved a different research paradigm, in which the project explored basic education at community level in connection with local development initiatives. This biographical/autobiographical account ends with the last publication ALPHA 2000, evincing an ecological vision for alternative education and sustainable communities, partly documented in the Arab countries.