An Understanding of Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"

Abstract

The Justification for a "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" Freire makes the case for why a "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" is necessary. He begins by identifying "humankind's central problem"-the problem of how we affirm our identities as human beings. Although all human beings strive toward this affirmation, it is constantly being interrupted by systems of oppression that exploit, and do violence against, oppressed people. Freire argues that oppressed people can regain their humanity in the liberation struggle, but only if that struggle is led by oppressed people. This introduces the central problem of the book: how to create an education system with oppressed people, for oppressed people, that will help them become freer. Freire then discusses the ways that oppression affects the consciousness of oppressors and oppressed people. Oppressors treat people as objects to be possessed and see freedom as threatening; oppressed people become separated from each other and begin to see their oppressors as the good ones. Freire asserts that the fight for liberation must consist of two stages: reflection on the nature of oppression, and then concrete action to change it. Leaders in this fight must exist in dialogue with oppressed people, rather than becoming like oppressors. Freire puts forth a pedagogy in which the individual learns to cultivate his growth through situations in his daily life that provide useful learning experiences. This is not a pedagogy for the oppressed; it is rather a pedagogy of the oppressed. The subject should build his reality from the circumstances that give rise to the daily events of his life. The texts that the individual creates permit him to reflect upon and analyse the world in which he lives-not to adapt himself to this world, but rather as part of an effort to reform it and to make it conform to his historical demands. Paulo Freire's learning approach requires that students do more than simply reproduce the words that already exist. They create their own words, words that allow them to become aware of the reality to fight for their emancipation. Without this, some people acquire a kind of naive consciousness in which they are aware of their situation but don't make any effort to change it; they take a conformist stance and consider their situation something normal, even to the point of supporting it themselves. Other individuals construct their reality and liberate themselves from oppression, only to go to the opposite extreme and become the antithesis of what they were fighting against. The person who thinks and reflects goes about creating himself from the inside out. He creates his consciousness of struggle by transforming reality and liberating himself from the oppression that has been inserted by traditional pedagogy. In the same way, when he acquires a new way of thinking, his understanding of the social status that he holds changes him. It's not necessarily a materialistic understanding, but a cognitive one, whose importance is revealed in the liberation from oppression which is found in the interior of the consciousness of the individual who possesses it. Freire endeavours that the individual, through systematic study, also learn to fight for the end of oppression and constructive criticism of the status quo. Freire's proposed method implies two distinct and sequential moments: the first involves becoming conscious of the reality that the individual lives as an oppressed being subject to the decisions that the oppressors impose; the second refers to the initiative of the oppressed to fight and emancipate themselves from the oppressors. Freire does not believe that the lived situation consists only of a simple awareness of reality. Instead, he believes that the individual has a historical need to fight against the status that dwells within him. The efforts of 226