PRAXIS - Paulo Freire Institute

Praxis Spring/Summer 2010: Volume 3, Issue 1
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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