PAULO FREIRE, CRITICAL PEDAGOGY AND THE TASKS OF THE CRITICAL SCHOLAR/ACTIVIST

Abstract

In this article, I look both forwards and backwards. I connect a number of the key arguments that have come out of the work of Paulo Freire with recent theories that have increasingly made an impact in critical education. In the process, I examine some of the strengths and weaknesses of these new approaches and provide a set of criteria tasks that we can use to judge how critical these approaches and their proponents actually are. I use some personal examples of my interactions with Freire's life as a way of illuminating a number of these tasks. I also argue that there is no "safe" or "neutral" way of engaging with these task and the traditions out of which they have emerged. They are meant to be radically counterhegemonic and they are meant to challenge even how we think about and participate in counter-hegemonic movements. I end with a specific question, How can we understand this, if we do not participate in such movements ourselves?.