Reply to comment

Given how the last chapter of Friere seems to jump back to previous themes, I will try to do the same in my response. Sorry if that makes it a little jumpy.

Initially I was rather confused by the specific pedagogy he introduces in chapter three, but once I understood it (from the example about the people's understanding of the codification with the drunk person), I tried to think how it could work in educational and social movement settings I have experienced. I also became annoyed somewhere around page 110 with the continued abstracted of the text; maybe Friere was trying to make us appreciate the need for concreteness by depriving us of it, but probably that's giving him too much credit.

That said, I think that there are some great underlying messages for educators--even if we don't use the pictoral codifications. Here are some messages that were helpful (for me):

-balance reflection and action/ don't just act for activism's sake

-don't be alienating/ be aware of people's situation in the world and let them share it with you (very Dewey-esque)

-act out of love, not out of fear. (I think Earth Quaker Action Team does this very well in our anti-mountaintop removal coal-mining protests. I think the Occupy movement by contrast struggled with this.)

-the investigator/teacher can't establish "iteineraries" for the exploration of the universe (also Dewey-esque) But how do you most effectively analyze different schools of thought without either inevitably guiding students to your own viewpoints?

-get buy-in from your participants (This is clear when recruiting participants for a social cause but what about in a classroom where you have to teach students whether they buy into it or not? Last year in a field-placement I was upset with a teacher who seemed to let disinterested students languish in his class. Was that teacher actually being Frierian? Also, what if you are teaching board-members of your college why divestment is a good idea? Do you give up if you can't get buy-in? I guess in the classroom scenario Friere would probably say to change your approach in the class to correspond with the student's interest until you get buy-in.)

-in research (similar to our fieldwork, I think), capture syntax of thought; not necessarily incorrect grammar or pronunciation. (this will be helpful for me)

-ground readings or speakers in context (as in "this person is a professor from "x". What can we expect from this person?)

-ground studies with themes, one of which should be culture.

As a social-activist, I really liked Dewey overall. The importance of horizontal leadership (he calls it diagonal leadership but I understood as basically the same), the importance of the "oppressed" group being the leaders of their own movements, people in power "fearing" the other people, the problem of how people in power try to fracture the disempowered, reliance on myths and slogans, were all things I have experienced. I agree with my classmates that his oppressor/oppressed dichotomy needs to be challenged, but like the also-problematic 99%/1% slogan it can be a useful way to think of divisions of power in our society.