Eco-Pedagogy: The Missing Chapter of Pedagogy of the Oppressed

• In Event: Paulo Freire as a Global Public Intellectual: Dialectics of the Global and the Local

Abstract

This paper offers our interpretation of an additional chapter to Pedagogy of the Oppressed as Paulo Freire might have written it on “ecopedagogy” which is inherently grounded in Freirean Pedagogy for transformational actions to emerge towards ending socio-environmental injustices. Although not named as such by Friere directly, the essence of ecopedagogy was, indicated by him, to be his next book before his untimely death in 1997. Ecopedagogy is an environmental pedagogy rooted in critical, popular education pedagogies, theories, and philosophies (SELF 2011; SELF 2nd AUTHOR 2009; Gadotti, 2000, 2008; Gutiérrez & Prado, 2008; Kahn, 2010). As with any pedagogical model, ecopedagogues’ definition and foci differ, but all ecopedagogies have a Freirean grounding. The first part of this paper discusses the methodology, rational, socio-historical positioning, and limitations in writing its second part - the fifth chapter of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The central thesis of this paper is that Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed is missing a chapter, chapter five, that Freire could not accomplish at the time of writing this emblematic book. We argue that historically this proposed paper could be written as Paulo Freire himself might have written the missing chapter in his Magnum Opus, a chapter that would have focus on the environment as oppressed.
It was in a conversation with a past student and one of this paper’s authors in Freire’s house in São Paulo that Freire lamented the predatory cultures that oppressed the planet, and insisted in the need of a planetary citizenship and ecopedagogy as a model to defend the planet, a most oppressed entity, in his words. He lamented not have addressed this key topic in his memorable book. Although not named as such by Freire directly, the essence of ecopedagogy was the subject in which he stated was the book’s missing chapter and was to be the topic of his next book, which unfortunately was not completed because of his death in 1997. Freire spoke about our planet’s oppression in many places, with “our” being all that is Earth.
In writing the Missing Chapter, we are limited by not knowing what Freire would have selected in his first-hand or read experience in writing on ecopedagogy. Due to this we have limited our writing to what had previously written, not to not give ourselves too much liberty in detailing what events he would have chosen or not. We have drawn upon some of the specifics that he, himself, chose to write upon. Without question, this Missing Chapter is different from what Freire would have written due to this and other reasons, but our hope is to capture the essence of what he would have written. We have included extensive endnotes throughout the Missing Chapter which clarify our own interpretations of Freire’s work.

Authors

• Greg William Misiaszek, Beijing Normal University

• Carlos Alberto Torres, University of California - Los Angeles