Bertha,

I agree, I've found Chambers closed, and has not been
particularly women'friendly.

Appropos Language: I've often wondered if in Freire's
native Portuguese, the language was easier to access?
I agree that the language is heavy and clunky. 
ActionAid wrote a REFLECT manual (it is their
signature approach) based completely on Freire and it
has been successful as an approach in Bangladesh,
certain parts of Africa. I met David Archer and Sara
Cottingham at the ILI conference (1995?) when they had
just come out with the manual and learned how long it
took them to come up with the approach, develop the
manual and adapt it to Bangladeshi rural life, it was
fascinating. Upon reading it, I found that whilst I
quite liked the simplifications and a lot of what had
been done, I didn't agree with their dismissing of
other approaches, and some of their activities seemed
kitschy. Yet, when I spoke to people who had used
REFLECT, they said that it was my "academic cynicism"
speaking because in the villages, people quite liked
both the simple and complex terminologies.

Language... a funny thing!
Ujwala




--- Bertha Mo <bertiemo at yahoo.com> wrote:


> I'm going to wade in here.  I think Freire's

> approach is wonderful, his writing dense and

> intimidating.  I also belong to the PLAINlist serve,

> which promotes plain, clear writing. 

> 

> Many of you have probably heard of Robert Chambers

> and his participatory approach to development/

> sometimes used in participatory approaches to

> education., which I also admire, but with

> reservations. After working with someone who was

> trained in his methods, I was told  his tools are to

> be used exactly as they are taught with no

> adaptation even if they don't work in a particular

> setting.  In addition, there is no effort to

> outreach to the marginalize or those who might no

> ordinarily be invited to participate in a local

> assessment. 

> Your supposed to work with whomever the leaders have

> invited.  In many settings, no women were invited

> and he felt that was okay.

>   

> A sociology undergraduate, and now a Ph.D. medical

> anthropologist, I hate the pompous language used in

> social science writing.  Yes, it is meant to exclude

> others.

> 

> Bertie Mo

> 

> 

> 

> povertyracewomen-request at nifl.gov wrote: Send

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> Today's Topics:

> 

>    1. [PovertyRaceWomen 207] Re: GED programs with a

>       populareducationa pproach (Andrea Wilder)

> 

> 

>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

> 

> Message: 1

> Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 13:45:29 -0500

> From: Andrea Wilder 

> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 207] Re: GED programs

> with a

>  populareducationa pproach

> To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy

> Discussion List"

>  

> 

> Message-ID: 

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> 

> Andres--

> 

> 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.

> 

> 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.

> 

> 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.

> 

> 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.

> 

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

> education teaching  

> was  profoundly human and adapted  to a pluralistic

> American zeitgeist,  

> my opinion.

> 

> 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.)

> 

> Andrea

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> On Jan 8, 2007, at 11:32 AM, Muro, Andres wrote:

> 

> >

> > What language are you referring to?

> > ?

> >

> > From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov  

> > [mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov] On

> Behalf Of Andrea Wilder

> > Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 6:47 AM

> > To: The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy

> Discussion List

> > Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 200] Re: GED programs

> with a  

> > populareducationa pproach

> > ?

> > 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 

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