Activist
(aktivist): an
especially active,
vigorous advocate
of a cause, esp. a
political cause.
PAULO FREIRE
(1921-1997)
(Pow-lo Fudaydee)
“It is absolutely essential that the
oppressed participate in the
revolutionary process with an
increasingly critical awareness of their
role as subjects of the transformation.”
Taking notes?
Presentation available at
edlf.wikispaces.com
-Paulo Freire
Biographical information
Freire was born in Recife, Brazil on September 19, 1921
•Married Elza Maia Costa de Oliveira, Maria Araújo Freire
•
Education
• Traditional upper-class boys private high school -1934
• University of Recife in Brazil, law student
• Taught Portuguese in public high school
• Ph.D. Thesis, “Present-day Education in Brazil. 1959
• Exiled to Bolivia, then spent 5 yrs. in Chile
•
Freire’s Brazilian Work
Freire exhorted educators and other cultural workers to
‘be tactically inside and strategically outside’ the system
•In 1946, Freire was appointed Director of the Department
of Education and in the State of Pernambuco.
•In Brazil at that time, literacy was a requirement for voting
in presidential elections.
•
Brazilian work (cont.)
•
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In 1962, as a department director at Recife
University, his theories were finally put into practice.
300 sugarcane workers learned to read & write in 45
days.
In 1964, Freire was imprisoned as a traitor for 70
days.
After a brief exile in Bolivia, Freire worked in Chilean
agricultural production for five years.
Brazilian work (cont.)
•In 1967, Freire published his first
book, Education as the Practice of
Freedom.
•Next came his most famous book,
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first
published in Portuguese in 1968.
The book has sold over 750,000
copies.
Freiren Philosophy
Freire was influenced by:
•Plato
•Marx
•Gramsci
•Jesus Christ
•Hegel
•Rousseau
•Locke (tabula rasa)
•Frantz Fanon:The Wretched of the Earth
•Martin Buber
Freiren Philosophy
Key Freiren concepts:
•“Banking” concept of education
•Dehumanization
•Conscientization (conscientização): critical consciousness,
consciousness-raising
•Dialogics--"the essence of education as the practice of freedom"-and dialogue
•Praxis (practical activism)
“Banking” concept of education
Dehumanization, objectification of humans
Foundations of Freire

To Name

To Reflect
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To Act
To Name

Give a voice to those who were oppressed,
so educators who served them could better
battle their oppression.

Conscientization - developing consciousness,
but consciousness that is understood to have
the power to transform reality' (Taylor 1993:
52).
To Reflect
 'Dialogue',
Freire says, 'is the encounter between
men, mediated by the world, in order to name the
world'.
 Freire
was concerned about using the imagination to
produce new possible ways of naming and acting in
the world when working with people around
literacy's.(Smith, 2005, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm#contribution)
To Act: Praxis

It is not simply action based on reflection. It is
action which embodies qualities which include
a commitment to human well being, a search
for truth, and a respect for others. (Carr and Kemmis, 1986,
pg. 190)

This enables society to act in ways which
produce justice and allow mankind to
flourish.(Smith, 2005, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm#contribution)
“A People’s Philosopher”
Casa de Palha (straw and
adobe house)
Favelas in Rio de Janeiro
Video
One of Paulo Freire’s final interviews. Includes
discussion on the poor, Marx, etc.
(2:26)
Source: Youtube
Thoughts from the video?
How is teaching a political endeavor?
Teachers as Cultural Workers:
Letters to those who Dare Teach
Fourth Letter:
On the Indispensable Qualities of progressive Teachers

Attributes Indispensable to Progressive Teachers

Humility – requiring courage, self-confidence, self-respect, and respect for
others

Lovingness – no only for the student, but also toward the process of learning

Courage – to fight, to love, and to conquer fears to be a political agent of
change to improve democracy.

Tolerance – requires respect, discipline, and ethics.

Decisiveness – ability to make decisions

Security – confidence in one’s actions

Wisdom – to use both patience and impatience in unison to work patiently
impatient, never surrendering entirely to either.

Verbal Parsimony – Those who live in the assumption of patience-impatience
will rarely lose control over their words; they will rarely exceed the limits of
considered yet energetic discourse.
Progressive Teacher Qualities Create Schools
which produce:

thinking
participation
creation
Speaking/Dialogue
love
Ability to guess
Passionately embraces and says yes to life.

A school which does not quiet down and quit.
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Doctrinal considerations
It seems as though the adversary
was aware, at a very early period
of my life, that I was destined to
prove a disturber and an annoyer
of his kingdom; else why should
the powers of darkness combine
against me?
(JS-History 1:20)
SO I returned, and considered all
the oppressions that are done
under the sun: and behold the
tears of such as were oppressed,
and they had no comforter; and on
the side of their oppressors there
was power; but they had no
comforter.
(Ecclesiastes 4:1)
Bibliography of Freire Works
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Education as a Practice of Freedom (1967, 1974)
Cultural action for freedom (1968, 1970)
Pedagogy of the oppressed (1968, 1970)
Extension or communication? (1969, 1973)
The political literacy process (1970)
Witness to liberation, in Seeing education whole (1970)
Education for Critical Consciousness (1973)
Pedagogy in Process: The Letters to Guinea Bissau (1977, 1978)
The importance of the act of reading (1982, 1983)
The politics of education: culture, power and liberation (1985)
Pedagogy of the City (1991, 1993)
Pedagogy of Hope (1992, 1994)
Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to those who dare teach (1993, 1998)
Letters to Cristina: reflections on my life and work (1994, 1995)
Pedagogy of Freedom (1997, 1998)
Pedagogy of the Heart (1997)
Pedagogy of Indignation (2000, 2004)