The dialectical materialism of Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy

Abstract

It is hard to over-emphasize Freire’s importance to progressive, social justice, radical, and critical educators in the U.S. and around the world. The popularization of Freire and his conception of critical pedagogy has resulted in Freire’s work being recontextualized in a variety of settings. However, despite important books on Freire’s Marxist politics, his Marxist conception of consciousness, and the power of his legacy for teachers and activists, the popularity of Freire amongst “respectable” progressive educators has meant that the Marxist nature of his pedagogy is often left unsaid. This paper argues that, at its core, Freire’s conception of critical pedagogy is based on Marxist, dialectical materialism. Further, this paper defends Freire’s critical pedagogy from several detractors, most of whom maintain deep misunderstandings of Freire’s dialectical materialism—and therefore propagate deeply misplaced criticisms of his pedagogy.