Transforming the Loveless Society: Psychoanalysis in the Work of Paulo Freire

• In Event: 18.072 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 18.072-11 - Exploring Freire's Dimensions

Abstract

Psychoanalysis is seldom associated with Paulo Freire, yet it is there in his words. A psychoanalytic reinterpretation of Freire exposes the obscured link between the material and the psychic that creates loveless societies caught up in cycles of abuse, terror, and violence. This paper disrupts lovelessness by amplifying the psychoanalytic theory at the heart of Freire’s work. It shows how Freire’s thinking is rooted in the anticolonial psychoanalyses of Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi and the critical psychoanalytic theory of Erich Fromm. It then reveals the psychic aspects of Freire’s primary psychodrama between the oppressor and the oppressed. Finally, it envisions how Freire’s work points toward a transformation of the loveless society through a critical pedagogy of healing.

Authors

• Ricky Lee Allen, University of New Mexico

• Katrina Elizabeth Dillon, University of New Mexico