"This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." - Adam Curtis
Mar 23, 2009 by mejiann
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Pedagogia do oprimido is one of the few attempts anywhere to implement something like democracy
as an educational method and not merely a goal of democratic education.
The first chapter explores how oppression
has been justified and how it is overcome through a mutual process between the "oppressor" and the "oppressed". Examining how the balance of power between the colonizer and the colonized remains relatively stable, Freire admits that the powerless in society can be frightened of freedom. He writes, "Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. Freedom is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion." According to Freire, freedom will be the result of praxis - informed action - when a balance between theory and practice is achieved.
The second chapter examines the "banking" approach to education -- a metaphor used by Freire that suggests students are considered empty bank accounts that should remain open to deposits made by the teacher. Freire rejects the "banking" approach, claiming it results in the dehumanisation of both the students and the teachers. In addition, he argues the banking approach stimulates oppressive attitudes and practices in society. Instead, Freire advocates for a more world-mediated, mutual approach to education that considers people incomplete. According to Freire, this "authentic" approach to education must allow people to be aware of their incompleteness and strive to be more fully human. This attempt to use education as a means of consciously shaping the person and the society is called conscientization.
Freire argues that words involve a radical interaction between reflection and action and that true words are transformational. Dialogue, and dialogics-"the essence of education as the practice of freedom"- requires mutual respect and cooperation to not only develop understanding, but also to change the world. "Authentic" education, according to Freire, will involve dialogue between the teacher and the student, mediated by the broader world context. He warns that the limits imposed upon both the colonizer and the colonized dehumanize everyone involved, thereby removing the ability for dialogue to occur, inevitably barring the possibility of transformation.
The last chapter proposes dialogics as an instrument to free the colonized, through the use of cooperation, unity, organization and cultural synthesis (overcoming problems in society to liberate human beings). This is in contrast to antidialogics which use conquest, manipulation, cultural invasion, and the concept of divide and rule. Freire suggests that populist dialogue is a necessity to revolution; that impeding dialogue dehumanizes and supports the status quo.
Aug 31, 2008 by mejiann
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Listen to Augusto Boal, founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, receive the Crossborder Award for Peace and Democracy in Ireland earlier this year.
May 19, 2008 by admin
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Political theater cannot work miracles, says Augusto Boal, the Brazilian author of the radical classic The Theater of the Oppressed, but it can be used to change the law. Having been elected to the city council of Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Boal is turning techniques first devised to encourage audience participation into a way of making popular legislation.
Jan 20, 2008 by admin
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