The Ideas of Paulo Freire
Professor Steve Miller
Political Theory 130
8 April 2014
Rejuvenating America: How Freirean Principles Can Revolutionize The U.S “Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world. ” (Freire 88). At first it may be hard to relate this definition/principle to American politics and American society today, but with some critical thinking and research into the current issues in America, relevance becomes abundant. This is the case for many of Paulo Freire’s principles, which may seem idealistic at times (and perhaps this is what makes a correlation between his theories/ideas and American issue hard to find). The three major principles of Freire’s that posses the most relevance are “dialogue,” the oppressor-oppressed relationship, and the “problem-posing education.” Freire’s “dialogue” principle is useful in arguing for citizens to produce a better voter turnout, his ideas about the oppressors and oppressed relationship are applicable to an argument against expanding welfare and universal health care, and perhaps his most famous idea, “problem posing education”, can be used as a base of a new education system in the United States that is capable of leading to increased economic mobility, and smaller racial disparities. To understand Paulo Freire’s “dialogue” concept, it is important to first understand the difference between the way he is defining dialogue, the definition we usually assign to the word, and the dictionary definition. The definition that is usually associated with dialogue, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of dialogue is “a conversation between two or more people.” This denotation does not divulge what Freire means by dialogue; his connotation of the word is much deeper. Freire explicitly tells us his meaning of the word dialogue is “the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world” (Freire 88). He elaborates on his concept with six features of dialogue: love for
Political Theory 130
8 April 2014
Rejuvenating America: How Freirean Principles Can Revolutionize The U.S “Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world. ” (Freire 88). At first it may be hard to relate this definition/principle to American politics and American society today, but with some critical thinking and research into the current issues in America, relevance becomes abundant. This is the case for many of Paulo Freire’s principles, which may seem idealistic at times (and perhaps this is what makes a correlation between his theories/ideas and American issue hard to find). The three major principles of Freire’s that posses the most relevance are “dialogue,” the oppressor-oppressed relationship, and the “problem-posing education.” Freire’s “dialogue” principle is useful in arguing for citizens to produce a better voter turnout, his ideas about the oppressors and oppressed relationship are applicable to an argument against expanding welfare and universal health care, and perhaps his most famous idea, “problem posing education”, can be used as a base of a new education system in the United States that is capable of leading to increased economic mobility, and smaller racial disparities. To understand Paulo Freire’s “dialogue” concept, it is important to first understand the difference between the way he is defining dialogue, the definition we usually assign to the word, and the dictionary definition. The definition that is usually associated with dialogue, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of dialogue is “a conversation between two or more people.” This denotation does not divulge what Freire means by dialogue; his connotation of the word is much deeper. Freire explicitly tells us his meaning of the word dialogue is “the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world” (Freire 88). He elaborates on his concept with six features of dialogue: love for