Pedagogy of Hope was actually the first of Paulo Freire's works I read (it was 20 years ago and I wasn't sure what the name of his famous book was at the time...). So this summary speaks to me in a way a dozen summaries of Pedagogy of the Oppressed would not. Some things that to me are important:
- kids growing up in rural areas have a lot more freedom than their urban counterpart - and I grew up in (and still live in) a rural area
- "a more critical understanding of the situation of oppression alone does not liberate the oppressed" - anyone who has been poor knows that
- Freire "writes at length about metaphor and beautiful writing" - something I try to bring to all my work
- "beginning with the educands' 'here and now' and 'knowledge of living experience'." There is no other place where teaching can occur.
- "The oppressor is dehumanised in dehumanising the oppressed. The oppressor can neither liberate nor be liberated." - this comes straight from Foucault
- "It is impossible to transfer knowledge, but a teacher can make a presentation and then analyse that presentation with students."
- Freire "focussing on unity in diversity, but also on cultural pluralism and multiculturality"
- Universities "should be critically engaged in the service of the popular classes, without loss of seriousness and rigor"
Great stuff. It reached me at the relatively mature age of 40ish, so it wasn't foundational to my thinking, but I definitely found myself in alignment with what I read.
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