Pedagogy of Indignation

by Paulo Freire

This is the first English translation of the last book written by Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of Indignation delves ever deeper into the themes that concerned him throughout his life. The book begins with a series of three deeply moving reflective "pedagogical letters" to the reader about the role of education for one's development of self. He also speaks directly to the reader about the relationship to risk in one's life and he delves deeper than before into the daily life tensions between freedom and authority. Building on these interconnected themes, Freire sharpens our sense of the critical faculties of children and how a teacher may work with children to help them realize their potential intellectually and as human beings. Subsequent chapters explore these topics in relation to the wider social world: the social constitution of the self in the work of educators; critical citizenship; and the necessity of teaching "from a position" about the world that goes beyond literacy programs to include the legacy of colonialism in peoples' resistance movements today. The book's poignant interludes, written by Ana Maria Araujo Freire, reveal Paulo's thoughts about the content of this book as he was completing it during the last weeks and days of his life.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Politics, Social Justice, Teaching

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire is among most the influential educational thinkers of the late 20th century. Born in Recife, Brazil, on September 19, 1921, Freire died of heart failure in Sao Paulo, Brazil on May 2, 1997. After a brief career as a lawyer, he taught Portuguese in secondary schools from 1941-1947. He subsequently became active in adult education and workers' training, and became the first Director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife (1961-1964).

Freire quickly gained international recognition for his experiences in literacy training in Northeastern Brazil. Following the military coup d'etat of 1964, he was jailed by the new government and eventually forced into a political exile that lasted fifteen-years.

In 1969 he was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and then moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he assumed the role of special educational adviser to the World Congress of Churches. He returned to Brazil in 1979.

Freire's most well known work is Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970). Throughout this and subsequent books, he argues for system of education that emphasizes learning as an act of culture and freedom. He is most well known for concepts such as "Banking" Education, in which passive learners have pre-selected knowledge deposited in their minds; "Conscientization", a process by which the learner advances towards critical consciousness; the "Culture of Silence", in which dominated individuals lose the means by which to critically respond to the culture that is forced on them by a dominant culture. Other important concepts developed by Freire include: "Dialectic", "Empowerment", "Generative Themes/Words", "Humanization", "Liberatory Education", "Mystification", "Praxis", " Problematization", and "Transformation of the World".

http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/con...

Reviews

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro apenas leve em peso, o seu conteúdo é denso. É a última obra de Freire. Nela ainda encontramos o homem que sonha com a possibilidade de mandarmos no futuro. É uma pena que tenham votado o autor ao ostracismo e ao cerne de debates políticos completamente inúteis e que desvirtuam a imensa obra de Freire. A pedagogia de Paulo Freire é hoje, mais que nunca, necessária. Não forma e informa apenas alunos, mas pessoas.

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"A educação tem sentido porque o mundo não é necessariamente isto ou aquilo, porque os seres humanos são tão projectos, quanto podem ter projectos para o mundo (...) a educação tem sentido, porque, para serem, as mulheres e os homens precisam de estar sendo. Se as mulheres e os homens simplesmente fossem não haveria porque falar em educação."

[Adriana Scarpin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paulo Freire é definitivamente um sujeito bacana.

[Helena Faria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gente termina a leitura com o fôlego revigorado para continuar na tentativa de mudar o mundo, por mais difícil que seja.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a small collection of letters Freire wrote in the spring of 1997, before he died in May of that year. For those who have read Freire, this is a recapitulation of some of his major themes.For those unfamiliar with his writing, this book is an introduction to thosemany themes.

- the future not as determination, but as possibility; the fact that human beings create their futures through concerted action
- we not only know and our conditioned by our history, but we make our history as well
- the rightness of anger in the face of injustice
- the dialectic of both denunciation of injustice and anunciation of a better world (utopia) in proclaiming hope
- the political nature of all education; no teaching is politically neutral
- the need for activists to respect the perspective and views of those they are seeking to "liberate"
- the bond between apprehending a topic, and acting in relation to what is learned; the link between learning and action (praxis)

One refrain that is repeated several times throughout this short book is "changing [the world:] is difficult, but it is possible." This from a man who sufferred greatly for his convicitons, but literally until his death, had not given up the struggle to overcome injustice

[Kelvin Dias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freire tem uma certa necessidade no meio de sua argumentação em diferenciar a atividade dos seres humanos do resto dos animais (já vi isso em outros de seus livros). Isso me incomoda um pouco porque parece ser feito de uma maneira hierárquica, antropocêntrica. Mas isto não anula a grandiosidade de sua obra, o respeito muito como um admirável intelectual de seu tempo. Sei que se tivesse a oportunidade ele mesmo repensaria este raciocínio, tal qual fez com as colocações postas por bell hooks. Aliás, ainda neste livro ele discute sobre ética e ecologia.

Uma coisa que eu gosto muito na pedagogia freiriana é sempre se posicionar contra a neutralidade axiológica do positivismo, advogando por epistemologias críticas. A recusa ao fatalismo e a fala sobre a necessidade e possibilidade da mudança me fazem querer ler, muitas vezes, só para me lembrar de que não estamos sozinhos.

Na parte que o autor pontua acerca da leitura do mundo preceder a leitura da palavra, me trouxe uma lembrança muito calorosa de minha infância envolvendo minha tia. Lembrei de quando eu ainda não sabia ler e ela me disse que sim, eu sabia. Me mostrou algum objeto e perguntou o que era. Respondi e ela disse "ler não é só entender as palavras, é saber ver e interpretar as coisas também." A ela sou muito grato por isso, lhe mandei uma mensagem depois dessa leitura. ❤️

[eduardo rissato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ainda que incovenientemente repetitivo tanto no movimento interno de articulação das ideias do próprio livro quanto na recapitulação de proposições já veiculadas em obras anteriores, essa coletânea de últimos escritos do Freire se sobressai por integrar suas enunciações da História como possibilidade, da liberdade como luta contra o massacre à vida e do sujeito se constituindo como tal com o mundo e com os outros à uma crítica contra a ética de mercado subjacente ao neoliberalismo operante no fim do século - ainda que este já fosse objeto de sua contundente análise no Pedagogia da autonomia.

Também adquiriram novo contorno suas ideias sobre o caráter denunciante e anunciante dos profetas, a se tornarem obsoletos pela tecnologização dos instrumentos de arguição e predição da realidade presente e futura, sobre a natureza dialética que conforma liberdade e autoridade, sobre a educação parental e sobre a postura dos progressistas perante a dominação então crescente da televisão e de suas ideologias à serviço da classe dominante. Sempre pautado e pautando seu amor pela vida e pela humanidade e, por isso, se fazendo testemunha de uma poética desafiadora e revigorante.

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
acho que começar a ler a obra de um autor como paulo freire por um livro póstumo e incompleto não é o meio ideal de fazer isso, mas o professor passou como leitura então tive que fazer assim (de certa maneira foi bom porque tô a um ano enrolando pra ler pedagogia do oprimido)
de maneira geral é uma discussão muito interessante e importante demais de ler num momento tão obscuro como esse, encorajador e instigante como uma futura educadora com pouca esperança de um futuro melhor
o fato desse livro ser uma série de recortes reunidos fez com que ele se tornasse bastante repetitivo em certo ponto, mas eu não sei dizer se isso é comum ou se é por causa dessa caracterísitca não acabada dele

[Hamood Qureshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book, does a really great job of detailing the purpose of an education in a modern sense. I don't think it's doing anything profound, not anything super powerful (also not written in the best fashion, especially because he passed in the middle of its writing), but it's still entertaining to read. This is one of those books that provides structure to your thinking rather than totally reframing the way that you think. Entertaining, worth checking out if you want something easy to read but still with a lot of force behind it.

[José Mora Romo · Rating 5 out of 5]

La indignación como la fuente del cambio es una precisión bastante interesante, pero aún más el hecho de que todo cambio social debe partir desde el amor, la fraternidad, la ética y el respeto no sólo entre los seres humanos, sino también con la naturaleza que nos rodea. Sin duda Paulo Freire tenía una gran sensibilidad que logró transmitir a través de las "cartas" que reúne este libro.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un libro, que aunque corto (172 páginas), tiene mucho por descubrir, por desglosar y disfrutar. En mi opinión, la forma en que escribe Freire es hermosa, y debo decir que por momentos me cansé, luché con él, pero lo disfruté y me llené de él. ¡Recomendado!

[André Felipe Pertussatti · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Camila Locarnini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para disfrutarlo, hay que obviar todos los comentarios y notas de la Viuda.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first introduction to Freire, I picked this one up in grad school but never actually had a chance to read it. I found it to be a thoughtful work - although Freire himself is a teacher/educator, his writings are much more philosophical in nature (yet he weaves education as a central unifying theme throughout).

This book was a compilation of letters written before his death, and mostly seemed to serve as a justification for "fighting the good fight." He talked about neoliberalism and its fatalistic ideology, universal human ethics and the need to fight for hope, and the fundamental freedom/responsibility of humans to forge their own destiny.

The concept I found most insightful was simply that we must look at our lives as conditioned but not determined - simultaneously acknowledging and accepting the forces that bear upon us, but never denying our fundamental right to self-determination.

There was a fair bit of repetition in this book, but the book was a pretty quick read and so did not become tiresome. It certainly succeeded in whetting my appetite to read more - I'm looking forward now to reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed!

[Adam Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pushing aside anything convenient, easy or comforting for educators, this book quickly, deftly and meaningfully pushed me away from the complacency I felt with suffocating my frustration while teaching. Instead, Freire directly challenged me to step up, look within, and shout out about the actual, obvious and painfully righteous indignation I felt about society today. It insists the reader does MORE with their work.

[Melmcbride · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of my top most important reads. Freire is a huge influence on my thinking about education and socially relevant pedagogy.

[Paola Barragan · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freire really thought about things pertaining to justice and teaching and our roles as teachers. This book has a different format, but the messages within are important. Fairly dense for bedtime reading.