The Politics of Liberation : Paths From Freire

This book explores various forms of oppression that plague contemporary society. Through the analyses and reflections of theorists and social activists -- including Paulo Freire himself -- Politics of Liberation brings together under a common project of human liberation critical voices from around the globe -- from Mexico, Guatemala, Britain, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The essays argue that Freire's work offers an avenue out of the malaise of contemporary politics and culture. They situate Freire temporally in relation to moments of modernity and postmodernity; culturally and existentially in relation to the First and Third Worlds and the standpoint of indigenous peoples; politically in terms of his attention to the range of sites and dimensions of oppression and their relatedness; and intellectually in relation to the eclectic range of theories on which he draws. The book is a response to the current global crisis of solidarity among progressive and dissident intellectuals, educators and cultural workers. It is a crisis which challenges educators and activists to transcend narrow ethnic, cultural, religious and nationalist particularisms but without recourse to transcendental narratives that make universal claims to truth. Freire's work addresses ways of resisting forms of oppression as they are produced in the context of First World and Third World social and cultural sites through Freirean-based liberational strategies that build upon forms of solidarity without positing universalist claims. The book will be required reading for anyone interested in liberation and especially for scholars and students of sociology, education and politics. Peter L. McLaren is Renowned Scholar-in-Residence and Director of the Center for Education and Cultural Studies, Miami University of Ohio, and Colin Lankshear is Associate Professor in the School of Language and Literacy Education, and Director of Literacy Studies Education, Queensland University of Technology. First Published in 2004. This work explores various forms of oppression that plague contemporary society. Through the analyses and reflections of theorists and social activists - including Paulo Freire himself - Politics of Liberation brings together, under a common project of human liberation, critical voices from around the globe: Mexico, Guatemala, Britain, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The essays argue that Freire's work offers an avenue out of the malaise of contemporary politics and culture. They place Freire temporally in relation to moments of modernity and postmodernity; culturally and existentially in relation to the First and Third Worlds and at the standpoint of indigenous peoples; politically in terms of his attention to the range of sites and dimensions of oppression and their relatedness; and intellectually in relation to the eclectic range of theories on which he draws. The book is a response to the current global crisis of solidarity among progressive and dissident intellectuals, educators and cultural workers. Book Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 5 Notes on contributors 10 Preface 14 Acknowledgements 20 Introduction 22 Freire and a feminist pedagogy of difference 33 Critical thought and moral imagination: peace education in Freirean perspective 62 Conscientization and political literacy: a British encounter with Paulo Freire 83 Toward liberatory mathematics: Paulo Freire's epistemology and ethnomathematics 95 Twenty years after Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Paulo Freire in conversation with Carlos Alberto Torres 121 Conscientization and social movements in Canada: the relevance of Paulo Freire's ideas in contemporary politics 129 Freire;present and future possibilities 144 Critical literacy, feminism, and a politics of representation 163 Politics, praxis and the personal: an Argentine assessment 175 Education and hermeneutics: a Freirean interpretation 194 Postmodernism and the death of politics: a Brazilian reprieve 214 Afterword 237 Name index 240 Subject index 244 Sociology

This book consists of a collection of original essays on the work of Paulo Freire, based on diverse experiences of First and Third world contexts. All of authors argue that Paulo Freire is the cornerstone upon which a new vision and strategies of liberation can be built. The book offers a broad interpretive base addressing Marxist and post-socialist, modern and post-modern, hermeneutical, feminist and post-colonial perspectives.