Dear Andrea,

You've lost me there. What language do you detest?

regards
Ujwala


--- Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net> wrote:


> Ditmar and others,

> 

> I must put up my small flag here:  I absolutely

> detest the  language  

> used in this educational movement.  To me, it seems

> foreign and laid on  

> with a  trowel.  Am I for social empowerment?  Of

> course.  Am I for   

> social movements which try to being about even  a

> modicum of social  

> justice?  Absolutely.

> 

> Back to the trenches,

> 

> Andrea

> 

> On Jan 8, 2007, at 7:33 AM, Muro, Andres wrote:

> 

> > Hi Ujwalla, David, Andrea, Ditmar:

> >  

> > We did a project with our students that has strong

> Freirian elements.  

> > This is an ongoing project with migrant students

> in which they write  

> > their own stories and we publish them. to see this

> project please  

> > visit:

> >  

> > http://bordersenses.com/memorias

> >  

> > While the stories are written in Spanish most of

> them have been  

> > translated. If you want to read the content,

> please click on each of  

> > the books. Also, to understand the theoretical

> foundation you can read  

> > my introduction to both books. They are in

> English. I kept the  

> > introductions very simple without making any

> references, However, the  

> > work is influenced by Freire,Dewey, Giroux, etal.

> You will see in the  

> > intrductions the elements of Freirianism that

> Ditmar points to.

> >  

> > Andres

> >

> > From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf

> of  

> > ditmar0906_inossian at netzero.net

> > Sent: Sat 1/6/2007 4:26 PM

> > To: povertyracewomen at nifl.gov

> > Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 197] Re: GED programs

> with a popular  

> > educationa pproach

> >

> >

> > Yes, Project Hope's Adult Learners Program uses

> (or did use) a popular  

> > education approach that is distinctly Freireian,

> and this program was  

> > the focus of Lorna's dissertation. For what it's

> worth,  

> > "conscientisation" was the focus of Freire's

> approach: a process by  

> > which a group (not at all about individual

> empowerment here [think  

> > "class struggle"]) becomes aware of their

> oppression and discovers  

> > that they have a popular culture that is both

> political and  

> > social--has a sociopolitical role in history (as

> Marx understood  

> > history). The group learners engage in "critical

> praxis" or dialogue  

> > toward the end of identifying common interests.

> It's rather like an  

> > effort to critique false consciousness through 1)

> an investigation of  

> > the thematic universe (identifying themes); 2)

> identifying those  

> > themes that are "generative"; 3) codification of

> those generative  

> > themes, and 4) dialogue within the cultural circle

> of learners to  

> > interpret those themes (i.e. create meaning). I

> know this sounds very  

> > abstract but one might think of it as a very

> Marxist-oriented version  

> > of the ideology critique that was advanced by the

> Frankfurt School and  

> > later by educational theorists who continue to

> work in this tradition  

> > (e.g. Giroux, Apple, etc.).

> >

> > Freire's goal was social change, not individual

> empowerment nor  

> > individual transformation. In fact, in my own

> reading of Freire, he  

> > didn't even think that individual transformation

> was possible. In  

> > other words, he never intended for his theory to

> be used as a means  

> > for helping learners function within the given

> social system. One  

> > might argue that if you change individuals, you

> will change society  

> > (one person at a time). However, this can be true

> only from an  

> > anthropological view of history (i.e., the driving

> force behind  

> > history is human experience/consciousness). From a

> structuralist (or  

> > Marxist) point of view, the consciousness of the

> individual makes no  

> > difference; it's class consciousness that matters

> because one's  

> > individual consciousness is a product of ideology;

> individuals become  

> > subjects only through their subjection to

> processes of production  

> > (i.e., the reproduction of production, or more

> commonly, the  

> > reproduction of inequality). So basically "popular

> education" becomes  

> > a mechanism for bringing about class struggle.

> Finally, Freire never  

> > specified the end results of pedagogical praxis

> because the "solution"  

> > or product was not known, in fact could not be

> known--it evolved  

> > among/through the people. Social change was then

> the process of  

> > peaceful intervention into the system

> by initiating dialogue with the  

> > "oppressors" to develop alternatives.

> >

> > The philosophical foundations are to be found in

> Catholic humanism  

> > (Catholic Action, Liberation Theology,

> etc.), orthodox Marxism, and  

> > German philosophy (particularly Hegel). Freire

> also integrated bits of  

> > critical theory into his approach, which

> evolved into his "Movement of  

> > Education from the Base" (a take-off on the

> "Popular Church from the  

> > Base" that evolved during the revolutionary period

> in Latin America).  

> > See his two major contributions to adult education

> theory and  

> > practice: Pedagogy of the Oppressed and

> Education as the Practice of  

> > Freedom (both late 1960s). Lorna's dissertation is

> a marvelous  

> > illustration of how one GED program puts these

> principles into  

> > practice.

> >

> > Thanks. --Ditmar

> >

> > C. Ditmar Coffield

> >

> >

> > -- eleonelli at aol.com wrote:

> >

> David - I think that Project Hope in Dorchester, MA

takes a popular 

> > education approach in their program.

> >

> > Esther

> > __________________________________

> > Esther D. Leonelli

> >

> >

> > -----Original Message-----

> > From: djrosen at comcast.net

> > Sent: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 11:14 AM

> >

> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 194] Re: GED programs

with a popular 

> > education approach

> >

> >    Hi Andrea,

> >

> > Thanks.  I have emailed Lorna.

> >

> > All the best,

> >

> > David

> >

> > On Jan 5, 2007, at 1:37 PM, Andrea Wilder wrote:

> >

> > > David,

> > >

> >

> > Thank you for the list, it makes me feel very

happy to have all these

> >

> > values in teaching spelled out. What a

comprehensive list!  Lorna

> >

> > Rivera I believe used the term "popular education"

 in her

> >

> > dissertation.  Perhaps you have already asked her

about GED

> 

=== message truncated ===>
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