The Presence of Paulo Freire in the Latin American Historical Context and His Influence on Popular Education

• In Event: From The Pedagogy of the Oppressed to the Struggles Against the Oppressors

Abstract

The work shows the links between Paulo Freire's thought and the historical and theoretical context of Latin America in the 1960s-70s and 1970s-1980s, as well as its influences on the practices and conceptions of Popular education until today. The historical and personal life conditions in which Freire's thought emerged in northeastern Brazil and its development from his exile in Chile and the links with the emergence of dependency theory, liberation theology, participatory action research, the re-conceptualization of social work and other sources of original Latin American thought. In addition, the links, influences and proposals generated within the popular education movement from that period to the present are explained, concluding with a look at the presence of the legacy of its thought in Latin America on the occasion of its centenary celebrations in September of 2021. The continuity and variability over time of some key categories such as “awareness”, “challenge”, “viable unprecedented”, “hope” and others are also explored. This work will make it possible to historically deepen the integrality of Freire's ethical, political and pedagogical thinking, taking into account its epistemological foundations.

Author

• Oscar Jara Holliday