According to Paulo Freire, injustice in today’s world exists because the ‘culture of silence’ prevails, where “some confuse freedom with the maintenances of the status quo” (18). In this culture, people are divided into 2 groups. The ‘oppressed’ are exploited, and they follow the ‘prescribed’ “guidelines of the oppressors” (28). The ‘oppressors’ exploit the oppressed, and their ‘false generosity’ and ‘false charity’ further perpetuate injustice.
In spite of their world outlook, they are both 'afraid of freedom': “the oppressed are afraid to embrace freedom [and its consequences, while] the oppressors are afraid of losing the freedom to oppress” [and of the ‘destructive fanaticism’ of the oppressed] (28).
Education then has the potential to become the neutralizer of this injustice. IF the ‘Banking Concept’ is used then Education enforces conformity through ‘antidialogical’ actions, such as conquest, divide and rule, manipulation, and cultural invasion. BUT, Education can also be the means to practice freedom IF ‘dialogical’ actions and encounters with others include cooperation, unity of liberation, organization, and cultural synthesis.
The oppressed can start freeing themselves and their oppressors from the unchanging, static, and fatalistic viewpoint of the world. They can start fulfilling their ‘ontological vocation’ to “be a Subject who acts upon and transform his world, and in so doing moves ever to new possibilities of fuller and richer life individually and collectively” (14).
However, ‘actions’ are not enough; ‘reflections’ are necessary. Together they form, what Freire calls, ‘praxis’ ( not ‘verbalism’ or ‘activism’ ). In praxis, “they discover themselves as [reality’s] permanent re-creators” not inhibited by any ‘prescription’ of inferiority (51).
Once the oppressed and the oppressors are truly liberated, they achieve ‘conscientizacao,’ which refers to “learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality… [because] reflection upon situationality is reflection about the very condition of existence” (90).
Thus “to exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn reappears to the namers as a problem and requires of them a new naming. Human beings are not built in silences, but in word, in work, in action-reflection” (69).
Hence, the ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed,’ according to Freire “makes oppressions and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation” (30).
Further Readings:
In spite of their world outlook, they are both 'afraid of freedom': “the oppressed are afraid to embrace freedom [and its consequences, while] the oppressors are afraid of losing the freedom to oppress” [and of the ‘destructive fanaticism’ of the oppressed] (28).
Education then has the potential to become the neutralizer of this injustice. IF the ‘Banking Concept’ is used then Education enforces conformity through ‘antidialogical’ actions, such as conquest, divide and rule, manipulation, and cultural invasion. BUT, Education can also be the means to practice freedom IF ‘dialogical’ actions and encounters with others include cooperation, unity of liberation, organization, and cultural synthesis.
The oppressed can start freeing themselves and their oppressors from the unchanging, static, and fatalistic viewpoint of the world. They can start fulfilling their ‘ontological vocation’ to “be a Subject who acts upon and transform his world, and in so doing moves ever to new possibilities of fuller and richer life individually and collectively” (14).
However, ‘actions’ are not enough; ‘reflections’ are necessary. Together they form, what Freire calls, ‘praxis’ ( not ‘verbalism’ or ‘activism’ ). In praxis, “they discover themselves as [reality’s] permanent re-creators” not inhibited by any ‘prescription’ of inferiority (51).
Once the oppressed and the oppressors are truly liberated, they achieve ‘conscientizacao,’ which refers to “learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality… [because] reflection upon situationality is reflection about the very condition of existence” (90).
Thus “to exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn reappears to the namers as a problem and requires of them a new naming. Human beings are not built in silences, but in word, in work, in action-reflection” (69).
Hence, the ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed,’ according to Freire “makes oppressions and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation” (30).
Further Readings:
Georg Hegel’s “The Phenomenology of Mind”
Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth”
Albert Memmi’s “The Colonizer and the Colonized”
Gajo Petrovic “Man and Freedom” from Socialist Humanism
Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of Hope," "Pedagogy of the City," "Learning to Question," and "Education for Critical Consciousness"
Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of Hope," "Pedagogy of the City," "Learning to Question," and "Education for Critical Consciousness"
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