Salutations: An Epilogue in Letters

• In Event: Education, Emancipation, and Political Struggle: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Paulo Freire

Abstract

In a letter to an imagined future reader a century from now – at the 2121 bicentennial of the birth of Paulo Freire, I argue for the potential of a framework of timescapes and a feminist, Freirean praxis of letter-writing to enrich Freirean studies. In the context of analysis of Freire’s other letter-writing praxes across his life, I reflect on my recent interviews with two of Freire’s family correspondents whose letters with him have been published: the first to be granted by his niece Cristina Bruno Freire (P. Freire, 1994 (2020), 1996) and the first interview for an English paper with his cousin Nathercia Lacerda (Lacerda, Porto, Gusmão, Brasil, & Freire, 2016 (2020)). I aim to center their voices on the occasion of this current centennial and highlight the continuing need for critical translation and archiving of this work within Freirean studies, as well as for these creative forms of resistance and modes and areas of inquiry.

Author

• Lauren Ila Misiaszek, Beijing Normal University