Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Vilsmaier, Ulli
• Faschingeder, Gerald
• Merçon, Juliana

Titel

Learning from Paulo Freire for Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research

Ist Teil von

• Journal für Entwicklungspolitik : JEP, 2020-01, Vol.36 (3), p.4-18

Ort / Verlag

Vienna: Mattersburger Kreis fuer Entwicklungspolitik an den Oesterreichischen Uni

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The approach to literacy and liberation created by the Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire incorporates ground-breaking principles for individual and social transformation. Fifty years after the publication of his main oeuvre – Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) – and 100 years after his birth (1921), the topicality of his work resists the attempt of the current Brazilian government to erase Freire’s heritage. In his book Paulo Freire mais do que nunca, Walter Kohan (2018) demonstrates that Freire’s politics of education is still highly pertinent, perhaps more than ever. His work not only impacted his own country and other Latin American states where Freire was exiled during Brazil’s dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, but his books were influential all around the world. His work had a significant impact on the reform-pedagogical movement in Europe and there are now hundreds of research and education centres around the world that are dedicated to his heritage. Besides the field of education, in particular popular adult education (Faschingeder/Novy 2007), Freire also contributed to research practices that are grounded in emancipatory and transformative approaches. Influenced by his pedagogy of liberation, a movement of Participatory Action Research (PAR) emerged in Latin America spanning academia and social movements (Fals Borda 2001; Streck 2014; Torres Carrillo 2020). This development was driven by the frustration of academic researchers in the face of the lack of contributions addressed at ameliorating pressing societal problems. In the words of Orlando Fals Borda (2001: 29): “We just could not be blind or silent when we were witnessing – and suffering – the collapse of positive values and attitudes towards humankind and nature. This seemed to require a radical critique and reorientation of social theory and practice. Our conceptions of Cartesian rationality, dualism and ‘normal’ science were challenged, as we could not find answers or support from universities and other institutions which had formed us professionally.”