PRAXIS - Paulo Freire Institute

Praxis Spring/Summer 2010: Volume 3, Issue 1 

PRAXIS 

Spring/Summer 2010: Volume 3, Issue 1 

Presented by 

The Paulo Freire Institute, 

University of California, Los Angeles 

Edited by 

Jaana Fernandes, PFI Program Officer 

Jason Dorio, PFI Member 

Maureen Noble, PFI Member


Contents 

Editorial Notes 3 

JAANA FERNANDES, JASON DORIO, AND MAUREEN NOBLE 

1 A Reading of Paulo Freire’s Teachings: Seven Actions of 

Transformation 4 

BRIAN JOHNSTONE 

2 “Dear Paulo” 12 

EDUARDO LOPEZ 

3 El Miedo A Educar En La Libertad 15 

MARÍA GUADALUPE CARDIEL CHÁIDEZ 

4 Floreciendo En La Libertad 20 

LUPITA CARDIEL 

5 The Problem-Posing of My Life: Freire Y La Integridad 

De Mi Profesión 21 

SILVIA TOSCANO VILLANUEVA 

6 Paulo Freire: Querring Pedagogy in Response to 

Educational Crisis 25 

MARNI ALYSON KAHN 

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Editorial Notes 

Jaana Fernandes, Jason Dorio, and Maureen Noble 

When we announced this year's CAFE theme, Education in Crisis, we expected to receive 

submissions from people who were troubled with current state of affairs in education and 

society. However, we received presentation proposals that all had with a strong sense of 

optimism- the Freirean essence of persons being able to dream of possible utopia. The 

authors are truly Freirean in their belief of education as liberation toward praxis - not 

only imagining a better future but also are working actively towards securing it. 

In addition to education as liberation, there were a number of themes that more than one 

author addressed. At the heart of every submission was the committed belief that Freirean 

Pedagogy is more relevant now as ever, expressing the inequalities which amplified with 

the recession the world is facing. Funds for public education are being slashed, from early 

education to the university level. California is being hit especially hard, and we at UCLA 

are only too familiar with the words "budget cuts." The crisis in education existed long 

before the recession began as our journal authors have expressed: Brian Johnstone 

bemoans the "neo-conservative ideologies behind such education policies as the No Child 

Left Behind legislation"; Marni Kahn explains how education "has been challenged by 

capitalism, globalization, and consumerism"; and Silvia Toscano Villanueva writes about 

"the detrimental effects that the school system has on the Chicano/a mind." Although 

there are many difficult and complex issues we now face, many authors were utopian. 

Examples include the following: Eduardo Lopez writes that Freire reminds us that "the 

world is not finished;" Brian Johnstone says "get beyond talking about change and move 

towards active participation in the educational process." All the authors critically and 

dialectally answer the "How How should we respond to this crisis" 

Praxis, as defined by Freire, is the use of developed theories rising from ingenuous and 

epistemological curiosities to construct solutions. All of the authors construct questions 

and possible answers using Freire's work and methodologies to combat the banking 

system of education that Freire describes in his work and is all too prevalent today. Brian 

Johnstone identifies seven actions of transformation, based on writings by and about 

Freire, developed and used in his own classroom. Lupita Chaidez describes the three 

phases of Freire's teaching method, which she also uses as a teacher. Marni Kahn writes 

about "queering" education in order to upset the status quo. 

All the authors have viewed, firsthand, what they view as transformative results teaching 

as a Freirean - expressing in their papers. One telling quote by Silvia Toscano Villanueva 

is the following, "For the first time, I felt comfortable in my education." 

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1 A Reading of Paulo Freire’s Teachings 

Seven Actions of Transformation 

Brian Johnstone, UCLA 

In a period dominated by neoliberal discourse, in which it has become 

unfashionable to dream of a world that is different from and better than the 

present one, many of us still find refuge and solace in the work of Paulo 

Freire…. To many of us cultural workers, engaged in a constant search for 

emancipatory possibilities, his work stands as a crag of sanity facing the 

contemporary tide of nihilistic madness (Mayo, 2000, p. 369). 

Introduction 

I was introduced to the teachings of Paulo Freire seven years ago, after I had spent two 

years as a Peace Corps volunteer educator in a rural community in Ghana, West Africa, 

and just prior to my first year teaching in a Los Angeles inner-city high school. As has 

been the case for many teachers throughout the world, the words of Paulo Freire 

resonated with me. There are few people who have written more passionately and with 

more love and conviction for education, for students, and for teachers as Freire. 

Consequently, it is through the teachings of Freire that I have identified the 

transformative potential that I can bring and am currently bringing to the educational 

processes in which I participate. After reading numerous writings by and about and 

interviews with Paulo Freire, I have identified seven actions of transformation that define, 

in large part, my educational philosophy. These actions include loving, transforming, 

politicizing, dialoguing, directing, sharing, and reflecting. Over the next few pages, I will 

highlight each of these and affirm the positive dimensions of these actions of 

transformation. 

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Loving 

Paulo Freire (1973) stated simply yet profoundly in Education for Critical 

Consciousness that, “Education is an act of love, and thus an act of courage” (p. 38). 

Love was a sentiment about which Freire spoke and wrote often. It was the critical and 

necessary component of his struggle for liberation. As his wife and lifelong friend, Ana 

Maria Araujo Freire, put it, “he lived for love and to love” (Freire, A., 1998, p. 3). 

The reasons for which individuals choose to become educators vary significantly. 

However, the truly progressive teacher becomes an educator out of love—love not for the 

financial rewards, love not for the school facilities, love not for the administration or 

other teachers, love not for school policies, love not for the job stability of tenure, but 

love for the students and love for the processes and ideals of teaching. Loving students 

means wanting to collaboratively create a world in which they can experience freedom. A 

teacher’s love must transcend the fears and challenges she or he faces in the struggles for 

that freedom. 

The initial and ultimate act of this love and courage and vision of a better future is 

simply to become an educator. In order to become agents of change we must first get 

beyond talking about change and move towards active participation in the educational 

process. When I chose to leave my high-paying and “prestigious” position as a manager 

in a satellite manufacturing company to teach in an inner-city school, my decision was 

not based on a desire to obtain personal wealth or to teach programmed standards 

developed by some political operatives who have no connection with the cultures, 

languages, dreams, or challenges of the students for whom the curricula were produced. 

On the contrary, I chose to become a teacher specifically because I did not want students 

to be blindly subjected to the mind-numbing onslaught of meaningless “facts” as directed 

by the neo-conservative ideologies behind such education policies as the No Child Life 

Behind legislation. I chose to become a teacher out of a profound love for students and 

for my belief that education can be an instrument of transformation. 

Transforming 

“The progressive educator rejects the dominant values imposed on the school 

because he or she has a different dream, because he or she wants to transform the status 

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quo” (Freire in Freire and Macedo, 1987, p. 126). The current educational system is 

clearly an instrument of social reproduction, as McLaren (1998) illustrates in Life in 

Schools (see also Willis, 1977). The dominant class is quite satisfied with this 

arrangement, since “The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a 

privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves” (Freire, 2000, p. 59). Without 

understanding how the inequalities of society, and thus the reproduction of those 

inequalities through schools, affect students and teachers, the dominant class has no 

reason to question the success of the educational system. From their perspective, life is 

good. Thus, it is critically important for educators to recognize the significant role of the 

school system in reproducing societal inequalities and to possess the dream that societal 

inequalities can be abolished. “The liberating class does not accept the status quo and its 

myths of freedom. It challenges the students to unveil the actual manipulation and myths 

in society” (Freire in Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 172). By unveiling the myths of society, 

educators become aware of the politics of education. 

Politicizing 

In A Pedagogy for Liberation, Freire (1987) states unequivocally, “education is 

politics” (p. 61; italics in original). To be sure, Freire taught often about the necessity to 

recognize the politics of education. Within that context, it is necessary for educators to 

understand the role politics plays in reproducing the status quo. 

Neutrality in education is one of the most deceptive principles that teachers are 

socialized to accept. As a reproducer of the status quo, the educational system is political. 

Standards are political. Educational policies are political. No Child Left Behind 

legislation is political. To be neutral, to not be political, is to concede to the politics that 

produce the educational system. 

Being a political educator does not mean pushing some liberal or conservative 

agendas on the students. Silence does that. Silence allows the agenda of the education 

policy makers to go unquestioned. What political education does mean, however, is to 

illuminate the political forces that have shaped the educational system and society as a 

whole, to illuminate the inequalities, to illuminate the oppression, to illuminate the status 

quo. It is only through illumination that we can even begin to consider transforming the 

status quo. Teachers who truly love their students and want to pursue a path of liberation 

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with them must become political educators. There is no alternative. This is a critical step 

that goes against the dominant educational ideology, but it is a necessary requirement of 

the progressive educator. And the only way to create an environment of illumination and 

political education is through dialogue. 

Dialoguing 

Only dialogue, which requires critical thinking, is also capable of 

generating critical thinking. Without dialogue there is no communication, 

and without communication there can be no true education (Freire, 2000, 

p. 92). 

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire (2000) clearly illustrates how any form of 

education that is not dialogical cannot be true education. As Freire states, narration “turns 

[students] into ‘containers,’ into receptacles’ to be ‘filled’ by the teacher” (p. 72). What 

the students receive is a singular perspective of the world, a perspective that is removed 

from their own experiences, a perspective that is completely mythological. Filling 

students with such singular perspective mythologies removes any opportunity for critical 

consciousness within the educational process. Thus, aided by the educational system, the 

status quo is preserved. 

Competency-based curricula, which contain numerous remnants of social 

efficiency as described by Kliebard (1995), now dominate educational discourse. A 

majority of policy-makers, administrators, and teachers, some well intentioned and some 

not, have hopped on the bandwagon of this discourse, which ultimately, as Peter Mayo 

(2000) describes, “domesticates human beings.” People are taught not to doubt, but to 

accept unquestioningly and absorb any information that a “higher” person deposits onto 

them. Such policies do not recognize the diverse and meaningful perspectives that the 

students have to offer, nor do they allow students to see beyond the printed word, which 

is provided to them by the curricula script. Within the educational context, students are 

not allowed to recognize problematic issues, to find meaning or relevance in their own 

experiences and conflicts, or to be subjects of their education, only objects, as are the 

teachers. The opportunity to read the world is taken from them, both student and teacher. 

As Freire expressed, “My impression is that the world of American education, the school, 

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is increasing the separation of the words we read and the world we live in” (Shor and 

Freire, 1987, p. 135). 

Through a dialogic pedagogy, the culture and language of the students become the 

starting point, not some script written by a dominating class of politicians. Together, 

students and teacher develop their critical readings of the world and discover those things 

most problematic to them. Further critical dialogue allows the participants to appreciate 

the global dimensions of their readings. However, “To achieve the goals of 

transformation, dialogue implies responsibility, directiveness, determination, discipline, 

objectives” (Freire in Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 102; italics added by author). 

Directing 

In Pedagogy for Liberation, Freire (1987) expressed his adamant opposition to a 

laissez-faire approach to education. “For me, education is always directive, always. The 

question is to know towards what and with whom it is directed” (p. 109). The dialogue 

necessary for true education must be directive. Teachers cannot just be facilitators. They 

must maintain a level of authority in the educational process that provides direction and 

focus to the dialogue. To be clear, the process must be directed, not the students. 

As liberatory educators, the primary directive is liberation. When teachers diverge 

from this directive, their authority becomes authoritarianism. The foundation of authority 

must be for the freedom of others. This characterization highlights the differences 

between authority and authoritarianism. The latter is just as destructive as laissez-faire. 

Authoritarianism eliminates the possibility for dialogue. 

With the ultimate goal being liberation for the students, educators must also 

recognize that they have a responsibility to support necessary preparations for the 

livelihood of the students. As Freire explains, educators “do not have the right to deny the 

students’ goals for technical training or for job credentials” (Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 68). 

At the same time, however, the liberatory educator must “try to unveil the ideology 

enveloped in the very expectations of the students” (Freire in Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 

68). “For progressives, there is no thinking about technical education in itself, one that 

does not inquire in favor of what or whom, or against what it operates” (Freire, 2001, 

269). As students and teacher address the topics of technical education, there must 

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naturally occur in the dialogue a reading of who determines the importance of and who 

benefits from the education, how the education is reflected in the reproduction of social 

inequalities, and who is disadvantaged by the education. This becomes an act of 

politicizing education through shared, directive dialogue. 

Sharing 

“As director of the process, the liberating teacher is not doing something to the 

students but with the students” (Freire in Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 46). Well-intentioned 

and caring teachers often fall into the trap of trying to do something for their students. 

However, true liberatory education is collaborative with the students. The truly liberating 

teacher dialogues with the students about their educational needs and objectives. 

Freire (2000) offers a problem-posing approach to education as a means to make 

the educational process inclusive of students. “Problem-posing education affirms men 

and women as being in the process of becoming—as unfinished, uncompleted beings in 

and with a likewise unfinished reality” (p. 84). The liberating teacher uses the 

experiences and perspectives of the students as the starting point in critical dialogue. She 

or he also recognizes that the teacher’s role in the educational process is also one of 

learner. “Liberatory education is fundamentally a situation where the teacher and the 

students both have to be learners, both have to be cognitive subjects, in spite of being 

different” (Freire in Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 33). 

In my role as a progressive teacher, I have taken the responsibility, in my 

direction of educational dialogue, to ensure that education is a collaborative process 

among the students and myself. Whenever the opportunity lends itself to me, I share this 

approach in the educational dialogue with other teachers. While my focus on education as 

an instrument of transformation has been primarily on the student-teacher relationship, it 

is clear to me that “teachers will have to struggle on many different fronts in order to 

transform those conditions of work and learning that exist in the schools” (Giroux, 1995, 

p. 47). 

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My approach to teaching is continually growing and will never be “perfect.” I 

often find myself, at different times and for various reasons, within the realms of 

authoritarianism, laissez-faire, and/or isolationism. However, it is only through selfreflection 

that I can identify my shortcomings and strive to correct them. 

Reflecting 

“Indispensable to teachers’ struggle is the knowledge, which they must forge 

within themselves, of the dignity and importance of their task” (Freire, P., 1998, p. 34). 

Teachers cannot lose sight of the ultimate objective of the educational process— 

liberation and freedom. And the roles teachers maintain in this process are crucial and 

cannot be overstated. However, society does not recognize the importance of the teacher 

and often tends to belittle their role. The progressive teacher, in particular, is often 

shunned for not supporting the dominant values and curricula. Consequently, it becomes 

incumbent upon the teacher to recognize and reflect upon his or her dream for a better 

world and the significance of her or his role in promoting the liberation necessary for that 

better world. 

Reflecting does not only encompass the teacher’s role in the process of liberation, 

but is a shared, directive dialogue with the students about their views of liberation and the 

process of achieving it. “Dialogue is a moment where humans meet to reflect on their 

reality as they make and remake it. Something else: To the extent that we are 

communicative beings who communicate to each other as we become more able to 

transform our reality, we are able to know that we know, which is something more than 

just knowing” (Freire in Shor and Freire, 1987, p. 99). Reflection is a necessary 

component of liberation in that the participants are able to acquire an understanding of 

their responsibility and progress in the transformative process. 

Concluding Thoughts 

During my several years as a teacher, I have spent an enormous amount of time 

and energy critically evaluating the purpose of education. I have considered and reflected 

upon the role of teacher, the function of schools, and the responsibility of students in the 

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educational process. The teachings of Paulo Freire have helped me to recognize the 

potential and possibilities available within the educational process of creating a better 

world for everyone. Education can be a betraying stagnation or an illuminating 

transformation. Educators can stupefy students through authoritarian or laissez-faire 

approaches or help to illuminate the world through a directive dialogue in a loving and 

sharing environment with the students. 

Through this paper, I have attempted to use the teachings of Paulo Freire to 

identify the specific characteristics of my educational philosophy. This has been done 

with the understanding that such a characterization does not result in a complete, finished 

product but a starting point in an evolving, transformative process. Each reading of the 

world, each critical dialogue, each reflective writing is part of an ongoing illumination of 

a world of oppression, discrimination, love, hope, and emancipatory possibilities. 

References 

Freire, A. (1998). Paulo Freire: To touch, to look, to listen. Convergence, 31 (1/2), 3-5. 

Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Seabury Press. 

Freire, P. (1998).Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare teach. 

Colorado, Oxford: Westview Press. 

Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. 

Freire, P. (2001). Pedagogy of the heart. In A. Freire and D. Macedo (Eds.), The Paulo 

Freire reader (pp. 265-282). New York: Continuum. 

Freire, P. and Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. 

Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, inc. 

Giroux, H. (1995). Teachers, public life, and curriculum reform. In A. Ornstein and L. 

Behar (Eds.), Contemporary issues in curriculum (pp. 41-49). Boston, London, 

Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore: Allyn and Bacon. 

Kliebard, H. (1995). The struggle for the American curriculum, 1893-1958. 2 nd Edition. 

New York and London: Routledge. 

Mayo, P. (2000) Remaining on the same side of the river: A critical commentary on 

Paulo Freire's later work. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, 

December 2000, 369-397. 

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McLaren, P. (1998). Life in schools. New York, Reading, MA, Menlo Park, CA, Harlow, 

England, Don Mills, Ontario, Sydney, Mexico City, Madrid, Amsterdam: 

Longman. 

Shor, I. and Freire, P. (1987) A pedagogy for liberation: Dialogues on transforming 

education. Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, inc. 

Willis, P. (1977). Learning to labor. New York: Columbia University Press. 

2 “Dear Paulo” 

Eduardo Lopez, UCLA 

Dear Paulo, 

For years I have wanted to share with you how you have impacted my life’s work, but for 

many reasons I had put off this task until now. Inspired by Sonia Nieto’s book Dear 

Paulo: Letters from Those Who Dare Teach, a group of students in the Teacher 

Education Program at UCLA invited me, as their teacher, and their classmates to write 

you a letter. To honor their request, and to finally express my gratitude for your work, I 

write the following letter in your honor. 

Growing up in the working class Mexican immigrant community of East Los Angeles, I 

quickly learned to associate school with boredom. I sat in the back of classrooms half 

listening and half asleep, wondering when in my life I would use anything taught in 

school. At the time I could not clearly articulate where this boredom came from but I 

continued to move through the educational pipeline because I feared what my parents 

would say when I showed them my report cards. 

Despite my resistance to schooling, I learned to love reading. Books gave me wings to 

fly above my world of frustration and boredom. My parents surrounded me with books 

and encyclopedias and the library became my sanctuary. Soon enough, I embraced an 

idealized notion that I would become a Jesuit scholar, able to completely immerse myself 

in studying without much distraction. I eventually enrolled in a Catholic Jesuit university 

majoring in psychology and theology with the goal of returning to East Los Angeles to 

offer counseling services as an ordained priest. 

During my sophomore year, I enrolled in a course where we read Pedagogy of the 

Oppressed, and my life plans changed. Although you were writing about your work with 

Brazilian peasants, I saw my own schooling experiences reflected in these pages. With 

each page I turned, I felt like I was pulling back a veil that finally allowed me to clearly 

12


see what schooling had done to me. Your discussion of banking education gave me the 

language to name where my boredom of school came from. It allowed me to understand 

the impact made by high school teachers who over the years yelled that I would never 

amount to anything in life. Thereafter I understood why I had become ashamed of my 

language, culture, family and working class identity. My thoughts became inflamed with 

excitement as I struggled to understand what you meant by problem posing education, 

praxis, dialogue, and critical consciousness. If this was what humanizing education felt 

like, I wanted more! After finishing your book, I made a promise to devote my life to 

learning more about your ideas and to share them with others. 

It’s been 16 years since I made that promise. I earned a doctorate degree in education in 

the Claremont Graduate School of Education where I was fortunate to work with one of 

your former students, Dr. Antonia Darder. In her presence, I saw your spirit invoked. I 

identified with her anger and struggle to transform schooling conditions in marginalized 

communities. For the first time in my life I experienced education as a practice of 

freedom. I learned to struggle with critical theory, critical pedagogy, cultural studies and 

the political economy of schooling. Most importantly, I learned to develop an 

educational vision of schooling that was linked to social and economic justice, human 

rights, and love. 

I have also found myself working in a number of different contexts in which I have 

attempted to reinvent your work. I have taught at an all boys’ Catholic high school, an 

after school program, college outreach programs, community college, adult education, 

and a public university. I currently work for UCLA’s Teacher Education Program and I 

find it to be the most challenging work to date. What makes this work so difficult is that 

we are in the midst of one of the largest economic declines since the Great Depression. 

Urban public schooling conditions have steadily deteriorated as a result of school districts 

laying-off teachers and staff while increasing class sizes and slashing academic programs 

and resources. 

In the midst of these dire circumstances, I began to lose hope as my family, friends, 

students and I struggled to survive economically. Overwhelmed by the financial crisis 

and the reduction of social spending and investment in public education, I turned again to 

your work, hoping to find some guidance out of the sea of despair. Recently I read your 

book Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage and was particularly 

moved by the following passage: 

The world is not finished. It is always in the process of becoming. 

The subjectivity with which I dialectically relate to the world, my 

role in the world, is not restricted to a process of only observing 

what happens but it also involves my intervention as a subject of 

what happens in the world. My role in the world is not simply that 

of someone who registers what occurs but of someone who has 

input into what happens. 

I found your words affirming and healing. Your words touched and encouraged me to 

continue trying to implement your pedagogy. I realize now that no matter how bad things 

are, the world is not finished. My actions and words have an impact on how the world 

unfolds. 

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Because I have witnessed firsthand how your work has empowered teachers, I remain 

hopeful that as educators we can transform conditions in urban schools. Over the last five 

years, I have worked with teachers on developing and writing a Master’s inquiry project. 

The project requires teachers to develop a question based on their own curiosity, their 

students’ learning, or their teaching practice. As a framework to guide the inquiry 

process, I use three of your central ideas: helping teachers read their students as if they 

were texts, linking practice and theory, and grounding their work in love. Teachers learn 

to systemically and intentionally examine their work through an ethnographic lens. I ask 

them to keep a journal and record their observations of their students and reflections 

about practice. In class we use the journals to develop critical reflection and to link 

practice with theory. Praxis becomes a central component of the inquiry process as 

teachers seek to leverage positive change in the classroom, school and community. 

If you were still alive and had an opportunity to meet the inspirational teachers I have had 

the privilege to work with, you would see that these are educators who ground their work 

in love, as they challenge and demand the best from their students. They unrelentingly 

work to heal the deep psychological and spiritual wounds our educational system has 

inflicted upon working class students and despite being overworked and underpaid, these 

young teachers continue dreaming of a utopian future. 

Thank you Paulo for all your help and support. Your work has sustained and nurtured me 

over these years. 

In solidarity, 

Eduardo Lopez 

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3 EL MIEDO A EDUCAR EN LA LIBERTAD 

María Guadalupe Cardiel Cháidez 

Decir que los hombres son personas y como personas son libres y no hacer nada para 

lograr concretamente que esta afirmación sea objetiva, es una farsa. 

Paulo Freire 

La década de los años ochenta puso en mis manos las obras de dos autores que 

impactaron mi vida: Erich Fromm y Paulo Freire. Ambos autores amarraban una cuerda 

que cada uno sostenía en su extremo defendiendo: ora el amor a la vida, ora la libertad y 

el diálogo. Al empezar a leerlos e indagar sobre sus propuestas hallé que tenían una 

marcada influencia por la fenomenología-existencial y el marxismo. Además, Fromm 

había bebido de las aguas del psicoanálisis de Freud y Freire del personalismo de 

Mounier. Estas fuentes obligaban a una relectura del mundo y la interpretación original 

de estos autores, pues su fuente resultaba sumamente rica. Es tiempo de abandonar a 

Fromm y lanzarme con Paulo Freire. 

Paulo Freire: Un Panorama 

El 19 de septiembre de 1921, en medio de la «tristeza y la aflicción» llegó Pablinho a un 

pueblo llamado Recife en la provincia de Pernambuco. Era un lunes gris que tenía a su 

familia atrapada pues su padre estaba muy grave y tal vez, pronto moriría dejando al 

pequeño, huérfano, muy tempranamente. Sin embargo «el buen Jesús», como escribió su 

madre, lo liberó de ese infortunio y su padre se curó. Esa misma mujer, lo introdujo al 

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mundo de las letras jugando con garabatos y bajo los mangos, lo que llevó a Paulo a 

pensar que la vida y el aprendizaje eran dos procesos simultáneos. 

Más tarde fue a estudiar a Jabatâo donde pudo, en carne propia, saber lo que es la 

contradicción de la vida: experimentó dolor y placer, sufrimiento y amor. Así la 

dialéctica empezaba a darle sus primeras lecciones. De ahí siguió hasta terminar la 

licenciatura en Derecho en la Universidad de Pernambuco y, muy pronto, abandonó la 

abogacía para trabajar en un departamento de Servicio Social. En 1944 se casa con la 

profesora Elza María Costa Oliveira, a quien debe mucho de su pensamiento y de su 

propuesta, ya que ella era una mujer dedicada a la educación y a comprender su 

problemática, misma que transmitió al joven Paulo. Un dolor muy grande lo invadió al 

morir su amada esposa. Muchos años más tarde contrajo nupcias con Ana María Araujo, 

quien volvió a inyectarle nueva vida. 

Escucho la frase que Elza le dijo a Paulo el día que renunció a ejercer la 

jurisprudencia: “yo esperaba esto, tú eres un educador”. Estas palabras resuenan en mí: 

durante mucho tiempo he sido y ejercido como psicóloga, y me siento muy contenta y 

orgullosa, sin embargo, de vez en vez, la educación me seduce y finalmente, me dedico a 

la educación. Ahora lo sé: yo también soy una educadora. 

El Ataque Al Futuro 

La distinción que hizo Paulo Freire sobre la educación bancaria y la educación liberadora 

me ha hecho pensar en una idea que puede ser un principio: educar a la persona tratando 

de que adquiera conocimientos, aunque se diga que son para el futuro, es una mentira, ya 

que esto es apostar por el pasado. Todo conocimiento es una afirmación del pasado, de tal 

manera que cuando el hombre enfrenta su realidad, no puede ver el aquí y ahora que 

brota a borbotones, sino que surge como entre sueños la imagen de su pasado. Por eso es 

que cantidad de personas viven repitiendo el pasado, repitiendo el proyecto de sus 

antepasados y no generando sus propios proyectos. 

Nietzsche llamó a la moral que vivían estas personas, moral de los esclavos. ¡Qué 

lección!: el que vive reciclando la vida de sus antepasados no es sino un esclavo del 

pasado. Ellas nunca están en el presente. El presente, según Miguel Jarquín, es el regalo 

que la vida le hace a los que se entregan generosamente al instante, a ese momento 

sagrado que es «plenitud en el tiempo». Estos hombres sí pueden generar un proyecto de 

vida propio, ellos son los que creen que al llegar al mundo no traen un guión escrito y 

previamente anotado para ellos de tal manera que han de adaptarse a él. Ellos viven la 

moral de los señores. Son los creadores, los que están dispuestos a lanzarse a la aventura 

de vivir. 

El fomento a la adquisición de conocimientos es un ardid para que la gente reproduzca el 

ciclo sin fin de quienes creen en el «eterno retorno». Para ellos no hay nada nuevo, todo 

está dicho, por eso hay que repetir a los grandes. Ésta es una estrategia contra la libertad. 

¿Cómo puede haber libertad en una educación en la que todo aprendizaje viene impuesto 

desde una enseñanza que piensa que se aprende lo que se enseña 

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Si aprender es el producto del enseñar, ¿en qué está la libertad de aprender Si no hay 

libertad ¿cómo puede haber futuro Nos ha de quedar claro que el futuro es lo inédito, lo 

que no conocemos, aquello de lo que no tenemos noticia todavía. ¿Cómo vamos a poder 

aprenderla de antemano y menos aún, enseñarla La libertad es la matriz en donde el 

futuro se fecunda. 

Es importante tomar en cuenta la distinción que ha hecho Miguel Jarquín siguiendo a 

Paul-Louis Landsberg entre expectativa y esperanza, para ver su relación con la libertad y 

el futuro: la expectativa es la actitud que nos introduce en el futuro con la actitud de 

control, mientras que la esperanza es la actitud que nos introduce en el futuro con la 

disponibilidad ante lo nuevo que nace. 

Aquí está la relación: una educación en la libertad alienta los vientos que inspiran las alas 

de la esperanza. No hay esperanza sin libertad y no hay libertad que no engendre futuro. 

Así, la libertad alimenta la esperanza que construye el futuro. Cuando esta visión fracasa, 

la persona no tiene opción. Se le cierra la temporalidad y su horizonte se oscurece, he ahí 

la desesperanza. La desesperanza, según Marcel «es la filosofía del pues bien no», y hoy, 

más que nunca hay que combatirla, ya que el mundo que asegura todo, es un mundo que 

no cree en la bondad de la vida. Hoy es el tiempo de volver a decir: «¡sí a la vida!». 

La bondad de la vida es una confianza que afirma la esperanza y la esperanza es hermana 

de la vida. Todos estos son conceptos ligados: la libertad engendra futuro y esto sólo es 

posible si confiamos en la bondad de la vida. 

El Miedo: Poder Y Libertad 

Hay dos ideas que circulan en nuestra cultura y la infectan por todas partes y a la mayoría 

de las relaciones de autoridad: 1) al fomentar la libertad se pierde autoridad y la 2) no hay 

que dar demasiada libertad. Ambos conceptos parten de un error garrafal: la concepción 

de la libertad como una cosa. La filosofía de inspiración fenomenológico-existencial trató 

de desmantelar esta idea que nos heredó la filosofía tradicional, haciendo ver que la 

libertad es un movimiento, una iniciativa de la persona. 

Sólo queda un tornillo para afianzar la nueva propuesta: esta libertad no es, sino 

como responsabilidad en la que se ejerce ella misma. La libertad no es un decir, es un 

hacer y su modo de hacer-se en el mundo es a través de la responsabilidad, es decir, de la 

habilidad para responder al compromiso que el hombre se plantea. Y el hombre no sólo 

es responsable de sí mismo, sino que al elegirse, elige un tipo de hombre, por eso, 

elegirse es elegir al hombre como humanidad. 

Educar en la libertad es formar al hombre para que aprenda a elegir-se y así, elegir 

a la humanidad como conciencia que asciende. No es posible elegirse sino en la 

temporalidad que persigue a cada uno en la dimensión política. Nos hacemos hombres en 

medio de los hombres que construyen ciudades, según enseñó Quetzalcóatl a su pueblo, 

al igual que Cronos al suyo. 

La educación bancaria es apostar a las esencias, seres ejemplares que no cambian 

y siguen siempre el mismo patrón. Siempre cerradas en sí mismas, como este tipo de 

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educación que moldea seres humanos que son cosas, esto es, seres sin contacto con los 

otros. Cuando se tocan lo hacen como bolas de billar que entran en pleito para ganar un 

lugar en la mesa de billar donde todas corren tras las causas que las mueven. Nunca son 

ellas mismas, porque ya son lo que son: repetición sin fin. Los maestros tienen miedo a 

que estas bolas de billar se salgan del cuadro y quieran elegir un modo diverso de ser al 

que les han programado. Les amenaza la novedad y la diferencia. Sólo caben en su 

esquema los iguales. Por eso, este tipo de educación es programática y favorecedora de la 

in-comunicación. Jamás promueve el diálogo. Logra charlas en las que cada uno habla de 

lo que quiere. Promueve las estrategias de cosificación: que los alumnos sean dócilmente 

manejables. 

La educación liberadora promueve a la persona en libertad a sabiendas que sólo 

en la libertad la persona se vuelve responsable y, por lo mismo, solidaria. ¿Será que en 

parte, los profesores temen que sus alumnos accedan a ese mundo de responsabilidad al 

que, tal vez, ellos le sacan la vuelta ¿Cuántos profesores olvidaron que educar es un 

compromiso con los demás, con su mundo y consigo mismos ¿Será que se están 

evadiendo de sí mismos ¿Será que quieren matar en sus alumnos la voz que llama hacia 

su propio compromiso Éste es el proyecto de Paulo Freire: despertar personas dispuestas 

al compromiso a través de la palabra y de la libertad. El docente que es un testimonio de 

libertad, jamás perderá autoridad porque la autoridad con la que cuenta es la autoridad 

moral. 

No quiero pasar por alto, recordar que la palabra autoridad tiene como ascendente 

auctoritas, que hace referencia al autor de algo, es decir, al que actúa, al que se hace 

responsable de su hacer. El verdadero maestro, como autoridad, es el que enseña a serresponsable 

con su acción y no echa la culpa al sistema, al programa, a la escuela, al país, 

sino que se asume en su hacer, esto es, el que enseña a dar la cara, a arrostrar, por eso la 

persona es rostro. El educador, en la tradición náhuatl, es el que ayuda a los hombres a 

forjarse un rostro. 

La Investigación: Un Sendero Hacia El Futuro 

Nunca imaginé llegar a ser titular de una materia de investigación, y menos aún, en la 

Normal Superior de Jalisco, Institución de gran prestigio y formadora de los docentes que 

atienden a los jóvenes de secundaria, edad que me apasiona. Más aún, que los alumnos 

que tengo están tan cerca de esa edad, que de pronto parece que están en ella. Otros, en 

cambio, han salido venturosamente de esta etapa de su vida y están en la adultez con un 

compromiso insoslayable. 

Uno de los problemas que enfrenta la investigación, que podemos llamar 

bancaria, siguiendo la terminología de Freire, es que busca ser una acumulación de datos 

que, además han de ser estadísticos. El proyecto matemático de la naturaleza sigue 

vigente en la mirada positivista de la ciencia y cree que los números nos permiten leer la 

realidad. El primer peldaño que hay que subir es plantear otro modo de ver la realidad. A 

este modo le podemos llamar cualitativo. Esto quiere decir que interesa el mundo vivido 

de las personas, esto es, los significados con que las personas viven su existencia. 

Llegados aquí, el planteamiento es: no hacer investigación que parta de la teoría, sino 

18


investigación que parta de los hechos vividos en el aula, por eso, esta investigación es 

una recuperación de la práctica docente. 

Para ello sigo el método que Paulo Freire propuso para su modelo educativo: 

Primera fase: descubrir cómo piensan las personas su realidad, cómo las afecta. Para esto 

los alumnos llevan un diario de campo en donde narran las vivencias significativas, tanto 

de sus alumnos como de ellos mismos, ya que ellos también están involucrados en la 

investigación. Para eso se siguen varias etapas: 

1. Buscar un acercamiento a la realidad de las personas a partir de contactar con las 

situaciones existenciales que viven dichas personas. 

2. Crear espacios de diálogo que tengan como «centros de interés» las situaciones 

planteadas previamente. Estos espacios acogen los «círculos de investigación». Se 

fomenta la visión crítica. 

3. Verificar los resultados de los debates contrastándolos con la opinión de los 

demás miembros del grupo y, si se puede, con comentaristas externos o los 

mismos miembros de la comunidad escolar. 

Segunda fase: organizar el contenido de ese universo descubierto en la primera fase a 

partir de varias etapas: 

1. Confirmación individual del tema elegido por cada alumno para su trabajo en el 

aula y de ahí la elaboración de su investigación (ya sale del método freiriano). 

Afinación con su asesor. 

2.Configura su trabajo a partir de los núcleos centrales que le permiten armar 

teóricamente su investigación y fundamentarla adecuadamente (extrapolo la 

idea freiriana). Revisa la literatura inicial para estructurar su investigación. 

3. Profundiza en la literatura especializada y los clásicos del tema abordado, para 

sustentar su trabajo. (Sale del método freiriano). 

4.Elabora su documento final para someterlo a aprobación a los lectores de la 

Escuela Normal de Jalisco. (Sale del método freiriano). 

5. Se reúne en tres momentos de manera intensiva, aprovechando fines de semana 

con todo su grupo para aprovechar la magia del ambiente comunitaria y así 

trabajar en la elaboración del documento antes mentado sin que se sienta como 

una carga imposible de realizar. (Sale del método freiriano). 

6. Prepara la presentación para defender su documento en el examen de grado, 

dándole la confianza y acompañamiento necesario para que realice una buena 

disertación que, dicho sea de paso, a mí me gustaría que fuera abierto y público 

invitando a los alumnos que vivieron la experiencia y a otros educadores para 

que sirviera como experiencia de aprendizaje. (Sale del método freiriano) 

Tercera fase: toda investigación, si está centrada en la realidad de la comunidad, a quien a 

de impactar es a esa misma comunidad de donde nació, de ahí que el ideal sería que esos 

modelos surgidos de los alumnos se implementaran y se les diera seguimiento. Sin lugar 

19


a dudas, muchos de ellos nos enseñarían a replantear nuestras cátedras y nuestras 

creencias. 

De este modo he descubierto la fuerza de un método que más allá de sí mismo ha 

generado en mí una visión crítica de la educación y comprometida con el ser humano a 

través del diálogo que confronta con la realidad y con los seres humanos. Todo verdadero 

diálogo es renovador, es hacernos ir más-allá-de-nosotros-mismos. Es existir, salir de ese 

lugar de confort en donde la conciencia ingenua cree que lo sabe todo, para ir a la tierra 

nueva en donde nada se sabe, y la conciencia crítica es el boleto de entrada. 

Este modo de investigador es apostar a la confianza en la vida que nos hace creer 

que vale la pena apostar de nuevo, ya que la última palabra no está dicha, y que es 

necesario aprender a decir nuestra palabra, desde ese ámbito de libertad que genera el 

acto de investigar como un modo de testimoniar la vida de la comunidad que es un 

espacio en donde la esperanza vuelve a levantar el vuelo. 

4 FLORECIENDO EN LA LIBERTAD 

Lupita Cardiel 

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PINTURA: FLORECIENDO EN LA LIBERTAD 

MÉTODO: ÓLEO 

AUTORA: Lupita Cardiel (38 años) 

Floreciendo en la libertad es una pintura inspirada en dos personas que se arrostran, y es 

sólo así, estando una frente a la otra, que serán capaces de desplegar sus alas y volar. Se 

obtiene la libertad sólo cuado somos capaces de CON-VIVIR con el otro. Obtengo mi 

libertad cuando soy capaz de verme a mí mismo reflejado en los ojos del otro. 

5 The Problem-Posing of My Life 

Freire Y La Integridad De Mi Profesion 

Silvia Toscano Villanueva 

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I have been an educator, primarily at the community-college level, for nearly ten years. 

Most recently, my most rewarding classes have been those in which I have been able to 

teach English composition as part of a Chicano/a Studies cohort. Because I am the 

daughter of a first-generation Mexican immigrant who grew up in a working-class home 

and neighborhood, I have continuously felt a close connection to the struggles and 

survival strategies of many of the students I have encountered over the years. My 

teaching methodology has been tremendously influenced by the work of Paulo Freire, 

mostly by Chapter Two of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire’s identification of banking 

as the Ideological State Apparatus’ primary tool of oppression speaks to my own 

experiences as a young Chicana maneuvering through a school system polluted by 

insensitive teachers, a curriculum detached from my own reality, and a system focused on 

suffocating my creativity. I see students entering my classes facing similar obstacles—a 

generation later. Freire’s work encourages me to embrace education as a tool of 

liberation rather than oppression. 

The time spent in the classroom, especially in Chicano/a Studies classes, is devoted to 

encouraging students to excavate those problems they see as relevant to their own lives 

and communities. Problem-posing continues to be revolutionary insofar that those 

students who are set up to fail—by the legacy of institutionalized racism and inequality— 

do not. As we engage in dialogue about the mechanisms of power that have caused us to 

feel isolated, invisible, inferior, and worthless, we come to realize the importance of 

taking action against the injustice done to us personally, those closest to us, and those 

surrounding us in our communities. Praxis, the relationship between reflection and 

action, is what propels me to continue to see my role as an educator primarily as a role of 

being of service. I serve my students, my community, and my raza when I listen, 

carefully, to their needs and choose to serve them. 

Below are just a few empowering comments that have been spoken by students in my 

classes. Gracias, Paulo, por sus enseñanzas que me han servido en mantener la integridad 

de mi profesión: 

“It [the Chicano/a Studies Cohort] has raised my self-esteem up and it made a 

difference in my life knowing what you really are in life.”—YQ 

“It makes me more proud of myself. The more positive self-esteem I have, the 

more better I’ll do in my future academic success.”—BT 

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“I would have liked to received this type of instruction earlier, because I feel that 

it took 19 years to know who I am.”—RR 

“For the first time I felt comfortable in my education.”—YR 

“The simple fact that I am a Chicana is something I wasn’t aware of before 

college—a simple fact like this is truly relevant yet no one had bothered to teach 

me this before.”—BJ 

“I would have like to have received this type of information when I was younger 

because I would have known about myself earlier.”—PM 

“If I had known exactly where I fit in this world I would have been more selfassured.”—BH 

“From this day, I know that other people can’t have power over me.”—BT 

I have used Chapter Two of Pedagogy of the Oppressed in the teaching unit for Freshman 

Composition that focuses on the theme of Education and the Internment of the Raza 

Mind. Freire’s chapter is used in conjunction with E.C. Orozco’s seminal work on the 

detrimental effects that the U.S. school system has on the Chicano/a mind. Below is the 

writing prompt: 

Villanueva 

Pasadena City College 

Freshman Composition 

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Essay Assignment: 

Internment of the RAZA Mind 

Student Learning Outcomes: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recognize the difference between summary and analysis—and understand how 

and when to incorporate each into a composition 

Identify a clear purpose for writing that includes analysis of at least two of the 

assigned readings 

Illustrate the ability to fully develop ideas through use of textual evidence that 

follows the “sandwich method” of quoting discussed in class 

Demonstrate logical organizational patterns that include transitions 

Compose clear sentences that abide by the rules of standard English 

Apply MLA format for in-text citations and include a Works Cited page 

Readings (choose at least 2): 

Freire 

Rodriguez 

“Chapter Two” of Pedagogy of the Oppressed 

“Achievement of Desire” 

Excerpts from A.R.E (Association of Raza Educators) 

Notes from Orozco’s Chicano Labyrinth of Solitude 

Preparation Guidelines: 

Please take time to carefully consider the prompts. This is an essay that requires you to really 

think about what is important to you with regard to education. As you prepare, consider your 

own experiences in light of the readings. Did (or do) you have similar experiences to the authors 

Can you empathize with their experiences Did (or do) your teachers incorporate any of the 

methods described by the authors How might such methods change or impact students, schools, 

communities We have spent a lot of time thinking about the potential connections between the 

sources. Please be diligent in showcasing that knowledge in your paper. 

Writing Task: 

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In a well-developed, supported, and cogent essay, respond to any ONE of the following 

prompts: 

 

 

 

How does Freire’s presentation of banking relate to the Chicano/a educational 

experience Does his discussion of problem-posing hold any promise for 

Chicano/as today Analyze. 

Analyze the extent to which Rodriguez’s educational experience is symptomatic 

of an oppressive educational system in the United States, especially for Spanish 

speakers. 

Define the Chicano labyrinth of solitude (as a theory) by referring to your own 

understanding (or experience of education)—as it compares to Rodriguez’s. 

Analyze how an understanding of the Chicano labyrinth of solitude (as a theory) 

can create change in the Chicano/a educational experience. 

Guidelines: 

Please take time to carefully consider each of these prompts. I encourage you to create 

an outline for the one you select. You should also annotate your textbook so that you 

have relevant quotes and commentaries about them accessible to you. You will be 

required to submit a Works Cited page, so please follow proper MLA format. 

Format: 

This essay will be typed during class time in a campus computer lab. Submitted essays 

should be 3 ½ - 4 ½ pages, double-spaced using size 12 font—Times New Roman, and 

include a Works Cited page (following proper MLA format); the essay will be graded on 

the clarity of your thesis statement and topic sentences, the depth of your textual analysis, 

and your ability to write grammatically correct sentences. You will receive a FINAL 

grade for the essay you submit, so careful planning is expected. 

6 Paulo Freire 

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Queering Pedagogy in Response to Educational Crisis 

Marni Alyson Kahn 

Georgia State University- Department of Sociology 

Introduction: Freire Background 

Freire studied and explored the dualistic and complicated relationship of oppression and 

privilege. Oppression and privilege are systemically and systematically built into social 

structures such as capitalism, patriarchy, and globalization, and are therefore unearned. 

Furthermore, as oppression and privilege become ingrained in structures and a 

component of everyday mundane connections, inequality is replicated in every social 

interaction. 

Depending on one’s social status, oppression takes on many different forms, often 

multiple on many levels. Those oppressed often have untold stories where those 

privileged are written into history. Ultimately, Freire’s studies reveal that humanity has 

an incomplete history (1970; 1993). 

The educational system, in the United States is based on a system of privilege and 

oppression. From its foundation, certain individuals were granted entrance and therefore 

received “privileged” knowledge while others were left unfit to learn. Freire asks 

teachers and pedagogy researchers to uncover who has been learning and creating 

knowledge; therefore whose stories have been told Meaning, teachers of the humanities 

and social sciences deconstruct the lessons of their disciplines and discover voices that 

have been silenced and faces made invisible. Without these findings, we have 

incomplete stories and therefore when teaching about our social histories and humanities, 

an injustice has been served. 

26


Education Today- Why We Need Freire 

Capitalism and globalization have impacted education, creating a consumer- like 

environment. Schwartzman argues that customer based education sacrifices student 

learning by defining students narrowly and limiting student-to-teacher interaction (1997). 

At the same time, the price tag to attend university increases and demands on faculty and 

staff continue to rise. Yet, the “American Dream,” that pursuing an education will lead to 

a better job with higher pay, is still mainstreamed through various markets and media 

venues, influencing the mind of many Americans. However, most students live 

incredibly complex, complicated, and multi-tasked lives. 

More than ever before students hold full time jobs and take care of families, while 

paying very high tuition fees for a degree that in many work environments is not even 

highly valued. As colleges and universities raise standards and receive an increase in 

admission applications, more Americans are living in impoverished, run down 

neighborhoods and communities in various areas around the country. This textured, 

consuming, and exhausting picture of American life frustrates students and sadly has 

depleted much of the passion associated with studying in a liberal arts environment. As 

previously mentioned, students approach higher education much like many of areas in 

life, as a consumer. Universities have becomes mass corporations and due to business 

demands often encourage students to move through the “system” at a rapid rate, with 

little liberal arts exploration. How do teachers combat the consumer model Freire 

states, “to study is not to consume ideas but to create and re-create them subjectively” 

(1985: 4). A Freirean approach in our classrooms challenges consumerism, deconstructs 

social inequality, and encourages justice to have multiples interpretations. 

Freire: Application to the Sociology Classroom 

Freire’s deconstruction of privilege and therefore oppressed history matches the 

goal of many sociology courses, such as a Social Problems course. Social Problems, for 

27


example, often links various socially constructed social problems such as racism, gender 

inequality, poverty, educational inequality, heteronormativity, homophobia, unequal pay 

for equal work, and ageism. Social Problems discourse focus on moving beyond 

individual experiences and making connections to social circumstances. Freire insists 

that in order to “surmount the situation of oppression, people must first critically 

recognize its causes, so that through transforming action they can create a new situation, 

one which makes possible the pursuit of a fuller humanity” (Freire, 1993: 47). Sociology 

has the tools, such as the Sociological Imagination (C.Wright Mills, 1959) to dismantle 

oppression and unlock its roots and history. To understand oppression, such as gender 

inequality or racism, expands one’s sense of self in relation to others. Understanding 

ones sense of self in relation to others connects the personal to the social. Meaning, as an 

individual, one has the ability to realize that privilege (male, white, heterosexual 

privilege) is unearned and oppression is often not self-imposed but structurally in place 

(McIntosh, 1988). 

It is evident that sociology has the ability to challenge students to face the realities 

of society and human history. It is necessary, as Freire demonstrates, for teachers to 

create a safe space—a cultural climate where biases can be deconstructed and even more 

so the reality of embracing stereotypes, social myths, and behaviors can be explored. As 

students embrace and share personal testimonies, for example a racialized, homophobic, 

or a gendered social endeavor, awareness begins to take place. Freire states, “the 

pedagogy of the oppressed is an instrument for their critical discovery that both they and 

their oppressor are manifestations of dehumanization” (1993: 48). Providing students 

with the tools to deconstruct the social construction of privilege and oppression takes 

away the very power that exists within oppressive and privileged systems. Paulo Freire 

opens the door to explore and be safe in one’s own social inequality and privilege and 

therefore teach about destruction, function, and healing in oppression. 

Another Example of Freire in the Classroom: Gender 

Freire has impacted every area of my sociology instruction; I also teach about the 

role of gender in society. Examining the role of gender in society encourages us to ask, 

28


how does gender order our lives, who are men, who are women, how is gender socially 

constructed, how and why does gender change through political, cultural, social 

discourses These questions represent what Freire refers to as defenders of freedom 

(1993). Meaning, to be gendered is to be human and living within a gender system often 

defends the status quo, pushing freedom further away. Freire questions freedom, whose 

freedom are we referring to Gender has not been given the same meaning to all 

individuals, therefore freedom has not either, therefore questioning freedom, encourages 

questioning gender. 

Furthermore, Freire has demonstrated the exploitation of freedom through 

maintenance of the status quo, similar to upholding the gender binary system. The 

presence of the gender binary system in all social institutions, from rest rooms, to 

classrooms, to occupations, not only makes it difficult to challenge but also problematic 

to threaten the oppressor. Challenging oppressors attached to gendered systems involves 

studying gender bodies, including women, men; all gendered bodies. Freire notes this is 

one of the greatest humanistic tasks, to not only liberate those that are oppressed but the 

oppressors as well (1993: 44). Meaning, in order to strive and reach gender equality we 

cannot locate and listen to only those treated unfairly, women and some men; we must 

also locate social structures perpetuating gender difference; male domination, patriarchy, 

and hegemonic masculinity. Unless we tackle the system, change towards more a just 

society will only take us so far; we must unravel inequality at its very core. 

Challenging Systems Oppression: Queering 

One of the many complications of oppression is the assimilation process; 

individuals striving for liberation often in turn crave the role of oppressor (Freire, 1993). 

Meaning, we, as human beings are socially driven to create power, produce knowledge 

through marginalization, to oppress—to be men (Freire, 1993). Individuals with 

oppressed social locations straddle a binary that is functional to the system of privilege 

and oppression. How does one that has been oppressed negotiate a “free” identity and 

remain authentic (Freire, 1993). Therefore, how do those that shift from oppression to 

29


new social locations tell their story Similarly, in the classroom, as stories are shared and 

as instructors teach about social problems, we are challenged not to replicate or reproduce 

social problems and inequalities. 

Patricia Hill Collins (1999; 2002), a prominent Black Feminist scholar, believes 

change begins with understanding social positions and intersections. Furthermore, 

shifting power relations greatly impacts the production of knowledge. Collins argues, 

education begins with a subjective and critical understanding of Black women’s struggles 

and oppression. Put another way, Collins, in conjunction with Black Feminist works, 

argues how an individual’s standpoint or subjectivity is critical to understanding a social 

problem or experience. Moreover, for Collins, intersecting race, class, and gender are 

essential to an inclusive social situation; neither point exists on its own (1999). Freire 

adds that social, cultural, and political forces cannot exist in isolation (1988). Race, 

class, and gender as well as social, cultural, and political discourses exist on micro and 

macro levels. Collins articulates that transformation in systems of oppression and 

privilege (racism, sexism, classism, homophobia) comes less from the individual 

(although he is still important) and derives from shifting the center—adjusting the system 

(Collins, 1994). 

Henry Giroux, (1985; 1988) a dear friend and colleague of Freire, adds education 

is the tool for shifting the center. Meaning, with education, critical reading and analysis 

of one’s social inequality becomes a point of change. “… education ‘speaks’ to a form of 

cultural politics that transcends the theoretical boundaries of any one political doctrine, 

while also linking theory and practice to emancipation” (1985, xiii). Education offers 

changes in a society based on domination, privilege, and othering. Freire believes 

education has the ability to shift power relations; education “queers” power. 

Transformation: Queering Education 

To queer means to deconstruct tradition, challenge binary systems, question 

power relations, and allow identity to be fluid. Queering educational spaces and the 

production of knowledge encourages instructors and students to leave tradition behind 

and explore new meanings of self. Freire wants stories of oppression, liberation, 

30


freedom, and resistance that have not been told or made visible to become central to 

academic disciplines. This will only happen with a shift in power relations, meaning we 

question who is privileged and oppressed, we ask why How do individuals reside as 

both privileged and oppressed, particularly when in the educational process Is this 

binary problematic, can we deconstruct it and not replicate 

Queering education is powerful and dynamic, but brings controversy. Many postmodern 

theorists argue that Freire is searching for a just society (Rozas, 2007: 562), a 

singular, just society. Post-modern theorists contest a singular experience, even if it 

involves justice. Yes, Freire does believe in justice and equality through transformative 

education. Yet, it is impossible for justice to be singular, particularly when queered. 

Oppression is not linear; oppression comes in different forms, shapes, sizes, and powers. 

Foucault addresses shapes of oppression when discussing the diversity of power 

(Rabinow, 1984). Power enters individuals’ lives and society at various times and places. 

If we consider the role of our students and instructor, oppression enters our classroom 

differently, based on race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and body. Therefore 

different layers of oppression change the just outcomes of discussion, critical thinking, 

and awareness. 

Conclusion 

Freire’s work from the 1970s is applicable and necessary to today’s classrooms. 

He believes in revolutionizing education by challenging oppressive social structures. As 

sociology instructors, we have the tools to queer our classrooms by inviting multiple 

faces and stories into social history. Oppression rewrites history that is used to describe 

human experiences, social problems, and create various equalities. Challenging how and 

what we teach, to whom we teach and why, unravels existing power relations and allows 

multiple experiences to be present. Furthermore, Freire’s transformative education in 

combination with queering instruction assists teachers with educational challenges of 

today, such as consumer education. 

31


References 

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Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 

Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. Black Feminist Thought. New York: Routledge. 

Collins, Patricia Hill. 2004. Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the 

New Racism. New York: Routledge. 

Freire, Paulo. 1993. pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum: New York. 

Freire, Paulo. 1985. The Politics of Education: Culture Power and Liberation. Bergin & 

Garvey: New York. 

Giroux, Henry A. 1983. Theory & Resistance in Education: Pedagogy for the Opposition. 

Bergin & Garvey: New York. 

McIntosh, Peggy. in reconstructing gender 2009. White Privilege: Unpacking the 

Invisible Knapsack, 1988. 

Giroux, Henry A. 1988. Teachers as Intellectuals: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of 

Learning. Bergin & Garvy: New York. 

Rainbow, Paul. 1984. The Foucault Reader. Pantheon Books: New York. 

Rozas, Claudia. 2007. The Possibility of Justice: The Work of Paulo Freire and 

Difference, Stud Philos Educ 26: 561-570. 

Schwartzman, Roy. 1997. Are Students Customers The Metaphoric Mismatch Between 

Management and Education. Education, 116, 2 215-222. 

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PRAXIS - Paulo Freire Institute

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