Andrea,
 

> It's the language that is associated with Freire,

> and that Ditmar used,  

> some of it is quotations, I am sincerely grateful

> for that.  I am also  

> grateful for Ditmar embedding  definitions in his

> text.<<


All theory is dense, wordy and loaded with what I
think of as linguistic equations. Even when Freire
spoke, it was not easy to understand. And yet the mere
expression The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, speaks to
something in all of us. So to discount a great
philosopher, thinker and his theory on the basis of
your dislike of terminology and translations, that is
too easy and too much of s short cut. To use an
American expression, It's like throwing the baby out
with the bath water.
 

> But to your point, with or without quotations these 

> word get my goat  

> (obviously):  class consciousness, class struggle,

> conscientisation,  

> critical praxis, codification (which I actually

> usually do like), and  

> pedagogical praxis.<<


I'm curious to know why they get your goat? And when
you hear others speak passionately of their
experiences, using these terms, will your dislike of
these terms make you discount such rich accounts?
Class consciousness and struggle is a reality of
everyday life, for all of us working blokes. And to
the people I serve, it is a nightmarish reality, not
abstract terminology.


> At one point Freire did go around   the bend, my

> opinion, over  in  

> Africa, and started to dictate how his workbooks

> were to be used. TSK.  

> Someone besides me picked this up, I was just

> reading along and there  

> it was.<<


Perhaps Freire felt the same as you did about the
language and translations of his words? And if he felt
his notebooks were not being interpreted as he meant,
well? Having seen "popular education", "Freirean
approaches to literacy" in a few countries, I've
learned that there are as many interpretations of
Freire as there are organisations! And each and every
one of them believes, very sincerely that theirs is
the truest approach. Not sure Freire would have
agreed... While I agree that the translations are
difficult, but then how many of us have taken the
trouble to learn Portuguese (if we're that quick and
ready to criticise the man in English) and see what he
really meant? The debate over the quality of
translations of Freire's work have been around for so
long, that either we make a concerted effort to get
better translations, learn Portuguese or .......
muddle along.


> By the way, I have I think  a CD of Freire talking

> at Harvard's Ed  

> School.  That's ambiguous, I think it is a CD, I

> know it is at HGSE.<<

And what did he say on that CD?


> David Rosen's list of attributes in Freirian/popular

> education teaching  

> was  profoundly human and adapted  to a pluralistic

> American zeitgeist,  

> my opinion.<<


He took the essence of what at least I understand as
being Freirean and put it in a wonderfully humane (as
is David) way. It works in some way even to women in
the Himalayas, HIV/AIDS affected mothers and daughters
in Andhra Pradesh and streetchildren in Lahore. 


> I understand  Thoreau,  I live  near Walden Pond, I

> know the New  

> England woods.  Of course we have somewhat the same

> background, and  

> MAYBE those who come from S.America feel more of a

> kinship with the  

> writing style of Freire.  Over to you, Andres.  (AND

> WHERE IS THE  

> SNOW??  I need snow to fully appreciate Thoreau.)<<


May well be indeed, but somehow I don't see anyone
saying what an insufferable bore Thoreau was, how some
had to suffer studying him..... and how inapplicable
or pompous he was.....

Cheers
Ujwala



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