Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the oppressed OLIve 24

Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the oppressed OLIve 24 January 2018 Aura Lounasmaa

Paulo Freire • born in Brazil in 1921 to a middle class family • As a school boy he experienced hunger due to the economic crisis, and this made him realise that the poor and the dispossessed are not to blame for their own misfortunes • Freire was arrested in Brazil after a military coup for his ideas about educating the poor. After this he lived in exile for most of his life

Pedagogy of the oppressed “These pages, which introduced Pedagogy of the Oppressed, result from my observations during six years of political exile, observations which have enriched those previously afforded by my educational activities in Brazil. ” “The pedagogy of the oppressed […] is a task for radicals” The book sets out a model of dialogical and problem-posing education, which will help us create “a world in which it will be easier to love”

Fear of freedom • Dehumanization by oppression affects both the oppressor and the oppressed: “This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. ” • In transforming one’s self from the oppressed to the oppressor, one does not become free but follows the guidelines of the oppressor Read p. 22

Fear of Freedom Read p. 22 What does Freire mean by fear of freedom? What are the risks on pursuing freedom (for oneself/for others who are oppressed/for the oppressor)? In order to be free, the oppressed cannot become oppressors themselves, as otherwise they are constrained by the same oppressing and dehumanising structures that oppressed them before. The oppressors are not free either. How can the oppressed participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation? In order to struggle for liberation people must see their oppression as a limiting situation than can be transformed rather than closed world from which there is no exit. When thinking about our lives, can we see possibilities for transformation?

Narrative of education • What is your best memory of education? Do you remember a particularly good teacher? • What are the banking model of education and problem posing education? (students placed within the world and in relation to each other and the dominant powers) • What kind of education have you been involved in? Whose story was that education about? Did you feel like a passive receiver of education or an active participant and creative thinker?

Banking model of education • Students as containers to be filled by the teacher; education as an act of depositing • Assumes students have no knowledge or experience worth knowing “The teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence. ” Banking model of education is designed to maintain hierarchy of knowledge and of knowers. It assumes and demands a passive role for the learner.

What is knowledge? • Write down something you know, that is worth knowing and you would be the right person to teach others • Which statements on p. 46 apply to teaching and learning you have experienced or are currently experiencing? How do we change this?

The word as both action and reflection • Freire says an authentic word always consists of both reflection and action and can thus transform reality. A word without action is an empty word and action without reflection becomes activism for its own sake. • What words have changed the way you think and act? • Freire says that the world can be changed by naming it. Are there aspects/experiences/parts/objects/structures/people in your life that you could name differently? How does this renaming transform those things?