Suchergebnisse

Examines the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire & its contribution to social change. Freire's efforts among the poor to devise an adult literacy education program that centered on students' social & political realities formed the basis of his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1989 [1970]). All of his books stress the political nature of education & its oppressive or liberating function. The "culture of silence" refers to the powerlessness experienced by oppressed groups & the role played by the educational system in perpetuating this helplessness. The concept of "praxis," the union of theory & practice in the dialectical process of action/reflection, is at the core of his emphasis on social transformation & serves as the basis for the theology of liberation practiced in Latin America. It is argued that Freire's concentration on social change as a goal failed to address the more realistic concept of societal change as an ongoing process stemming from individual & collective transformation. However, it is maintained that this framework does not negate, but merely redirects, Freire's arguments. J. Lindroth