Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Chapter 1

This episode is the start of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 1, which discusses how oppressors maintain control over the oppressed. Following unpacking scholarship episodes discuss what this looks like in education and how educators can adopt a “pedagogy of the oppressed” to break cycles of oppression.

  • welcome back to another episode of the

    csk8 podcast my name is jared o'leary

    in this week's episode i am launching a

    mini podcast

    series that is going to unpack the book

    pedagogy of the oppressed

    specifically the 30th anniversary

    edition on kendall

    forgive my pronunciation but this book

    was written by paulo freire

    i have to admit i went online and looked

    up many ways to pronounce the name i've

    heard it pronounced as

    freer fairy etc but freddy

    is how multiple people who live in

    brazil actually pronounce the name so i

    assume

    it is correct okay so you might be

    wondering why am i unpacking

    this particular book for the podcast so

    let me read for you a short summary of

    the book this is from pages

    book will present

    some aspects of what the writer has

    termed the pedagogy of the oppressed

    a pedagogy which must be forged with not

    for

    the oppressed whether individuals or

    peoples in the incessant struggle to

    regain their humanity this pedagogy

    makes oppression

    and its causes objects of reflection by

    the oppressed

    and from that reflection will come their

    necessary engagement

    in the struggle for their liberation and

    in the struggle this pedagogy will be

    made

    and remade end quote so overall the

    pedagogy of oppressed is a pedagogy for

    regaining humanity

    through liberatory practices and is done

    with the oppressed not done

    to or for the oppressed so this is

    something that guests have talked about

    like if you listen back to the episode

    with martine

    orback which talks about some liberatory

    practices that you can do in education

    as well as some interviews that have not

    released yet so what i plan on doing

    over the next few weeks in the unpacking

    scholarship episodes

    which is every other week i will be

    unpacking

    one chapter from this book now the first

    chapter is a little bit more of an

    introduction

    on the oppression that people face in

    general

    and then some of the later chapters

    unpack more of the implications in

    education in general

    however in each one of these episodes

    i'm going to unpack potential

    implications for cs educators

    so to start i want to say that freyri

    describes oppression as domesticating

    and the pedagogy that freyri is arguing

    for is a cycle

    and it seeks to end the idea that quote

    to be

    is to be like and to be like is to be

    like the oppressor

    end quote it's from page 44. all right

    so let's dive into this so right off the

    bat

    on page 39 we start with this quote

    while the problem of humanization has

    always from an axiological point of view

    and humankind's central problem it now

    takes on the character

    of an inescapable concern concern for

    humanization leads at once to the

    recognition of dehumanization

    not only as an ontological possibility

    but as

    an historical reality and as an

    individual perceives the extent of

    dehumanization

    he or she may ask if humanization is a

    viable possibility

    within history in concrete objective

    context both humanization and

    dehumanization

    are possibilities for a person as an

    uncompleted being

    conscious of their incompletion end

    quote

    all right so let's unpack that a little

    bit so freyri is saying that one of the

    biggest concerns for humankind

    or one of the biggest problems from a

    values standpoint

    is humanization and dehumanization and

    notes that

    this has been something that has been

    going on throughout history

    and that people have actually asked

    whether or not humanization

    is a possibility considering the extent

    of dehumanization going on

    this is particularly relevant with all

    of the chaos going on in the world and

    the way that people are describing it

    so i'll try and relate it not only to

    education but the following discussions

    i will also connect to

    some of the more contemporary things

    that are occurring at the time of this

    recording

    which is in september of 2020. so the

    author argues

    in this first chapter that

    dehumanization applies not only to the

    people whose humanity has been stolen

    but to the people stealing it as it

    distorts what the author considers to be

    the vocation of people so in other words

    whether you're the oppressor or the

    oppressed dehumanization is going on

    whenever there's any form of oppression

    so here's a quote from page 40.

    quote this struggle is possible only

    because

    dehumanization although a concrete

    historical fact

    is not a given destiny but the result of

    an unjust order that engenders violence

    in the oppressors

    which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed

    end quote

    here's another quote from the same page

    quote in order for this struggle to have

    meaning the oppressed must not

    in seeking to regain their humanity

    which is a way to create it

    become in turn oppressors of the

    oppressors but rather restores of the

    humanity of both

    this then is the great humanistic and

    historical task of the oppressed

    to liberate themselves and their

    oppressors as well

    end quote so this is a very important

    point so it's not just about flipping

    power dynamics that are going on

    in the world or eventually as we'll talk

    in other

    chapters in the classroom but it's to

    try and humanize

    everybody and treat everybody as

    individuals

    and to liberate everyone rather than

    flipping it so that

    now the former oppressors are now being

    oppressed

    so one of the key points in this book is

    that freyri posits that

    it is the oppressed who need to free

    both

    the oppressed and oppressors and the

    reason why he says this is because the

    oppressors almost always

    soften their power with false generosity

    so here's a quote from page 40 that kind

    of describes it more

    quote true generosity consists precisely

    in fighting to destroy the causes which

    nourish

    false charity false charity constrains

    the fearful unsubdued

    the rejects of life to extend their

    trembling hands

    true generosity lies in strivings so

    that these hands

    whether of individuals or entire peoples

    need to be

    extended less and less in supplication

    so that more and more they become human

    hands

    in which work and working transforms the

    world end quote

    from page 40. okay so here are a couple

    of questions that

    are a follow-up to this and this is on

    page 40 and 41.

    who are better prepared than the

    oppressed to understand the terrible

    significance of an oppressive society

    who suffer the effects of oppression

    more than the oppressed

    who can better understand the necessity

    of liberation end quote

    while i agree with the gen general

    sentiment here that

    the author is talking about i disagree

    with the idea that it is

    always oppressors softening their power

    through some sort of false generosity

    as an example of that with all the

    things going on with black lives matter

    at the moment i know there are a lot of

    people who are not black

    who are genuinely trying to learn how

    they can best assist right now

    they're not just trying to soften their

    power through some kind of a false

    generosity

    but they are actually trying to elevate

    others

    or even get rid of their own power so as

    an example there are

    executives at corporations who have

    entirely stepped down from positions

    and given their position to extremely

    qualified black individuals

    this is an example of somebody who's not

    just trying to soften their power but is

    actually giving up their power

    for other people and i state this

    because this is just something that is

    obviously

    on a lot of people's minds right now in

    september of 2020.

    so it's a contemporary example now one

    of the interesting

    parts about this particular chapter is

    the author mentions that when striving

    for liberation

    sometimes the oppressed actually become

    oppressors or sub-oppressors

    so as i mentioned at the beginning of

    the podcast that sometimes it's flipped

    where it's okay you've been oppressing

    me now i'm going to oppress you

    now when it comes to sub-oppressors

    freyri provides some examples of farm

    workers

    who are oppressed by the owner of a farm

    and can be promoted maybe to something

    like a supervisor or manager

    who then oppresses their colleagues

    because they are continued to be

    oppressed by the farm's owner

    now an example of what that looks like

    in america's history

    so a good parallel is with field slaves

    and house slaves

    so the house slaves worked in the house

    and often oversaw

    supervision and punishments of field

    slaves who were the people who worked in

    the fields

    although their living and working

    conditions differed from field slaves

    they were still slaves oppressed by the

    plantation's owners

    so that's a historical example within

    america

    of a sub-oppressor which gets at one of

    the points that i'll bring up later on

    but the author kind of positions things

    as you're either an

    oppressor or somebody who is oppressed

    but somebody who is a sub oppressor

    is simultaneously both so they're

    oppressing their colleagues but they are

    pressed by

    the plantation owner now one of the

    things that i really like

    that freyri points out is that even when

    there are revolutions

    or overthrows and power or things are

    balanced out in terms of power

    distribution or however you want to

    describe that

    there is still a shadow of the former

    oppressor that has

    shaped the new dominant power or the new

    way of being or valuing or thinking

    okay so a contemporary example of this

    in education

    if you've been in education for at least

    five years or more

    i'm sure you've seen at least one if not

    multiple waves of the latest greatest

    thing

    whether it be project-based learning is

    going to solve all problems or

    problem-based learning is going to solve

    all problems or

    how about grit or how about fixed versus

    growth mindset

    so like all of these are areas that

    people have focused on

    and have come into power and have

    supplanted the previous power

    however when you are inside of the

    classroom context you are still

    thinking through stuff that came prior

    to it

    so if your district is just now getting

    into the fixed versus growth mindset

    discourse and research and whatnot but

    previously was talking about grit

    you're going to be looking at this new

    fixed versus growth mindset

    conversation through the lens of grit or

    through the lens of

    whatever came before it so that's just a

    quick example of how the former values

    from the previous dominant power or idea

    can still inform the new dominant power

    or

    idea in a classroom context another way

    that the author

    argues that new power structures kind of

    carry over the values and guidelines

    from the previous oppressors

    is by giving the analogy of liberation

    as being like painful childbirth

    so through the process of two groups

    coming together

    they create a child and this new child

    is then going to have

    some of the characteristics of both the

    oppressed and the oppressor

    so that's just another way of kind of

    framing that so the author also argues

    that the oppressed are actually afraid

    of freedom be

    because they have internalized so many

    of these values and guidelines set by

    the oppressor

    that they're afraid of what would happen

    if they did not have those values and

    guidelines

    in other words they've kind of lost

    their own humanity or their own way

    so i'll understand where that might make

    sense like i can think of plenty of

    examples

    inside and outside of education i can

    also argue where

    it doesn't make sense so for example i

    don't value standardized tests because i

    value individualized expertise

    over commonly understood baselines of

    understandings so i'm perfectly content

    with removing standardized tests and

    even standards

    and encouraging teachers and students to

    focus on learning how to learn

    what they're interested in rather than

    learning the same content as everyone

    else

    in other words i'm not afraid of what

    would happen if we remove standardized

    tests or standards

    however to argue with myself the fact

    that we don't have the same baseline of

    understanding

    scientific research processes and data

    etc in the area of covid

    make me wish more people were aware of

    their actions

    and how they could potentially impact

    the health of everyone around them

    so again i'm just throwing these

    examples out here because not everything

    should be taken literally and should be

    taken as

    either or there's a lot of in between

    that is not necessarily discussed by the

    author

    but is at least worth pointing out or

    considering however

    i do have to say that a lot of what you

    are going to listen to in this episode

    and the following episodes on the other

    chapters have heavily influenced

    my own approach to education my

    philosophy of education as well as many

    of the guests who have been on the show

    okay so we have people who are oppressed

    and we have people who are oppressing

    others so what can we

    actually do about this so the author

    mentions that quote

    in order for the oppressed to be able to

    wage the struggle for their liberation

    they must perceive the reality of

    oppression not as a closed world from

    which there is no exit

    but is a limiting situation which they

    can transform end quote

    it's from page 44. so this is a very

    important

    thing to note so people who are

    oppressed need to understand that this

    can be a temporary situation and this

    can be something that can be changed

    now one way that oppressors can do that

    is by actually working in solidarity

    with the oppressed

    they can fight side by side to actually

    change the systems of oppression

    that are dehumanizing people and

    actually work towards seeing people as

    people

    and not categories which i don't know

    about for you but

    that really resonates with what's going

    on in my social circles right now

    there is a lot of othering and a lot of

    categories being thrown at different

    people especially when it comes to

    politics

    okay so there are two overall stages

    that kind of guide this pedagogy of the

    oppressed so the first stage is one

    where the oppressed

    unveil and recognize oppression and then

    commits to its

    transformation as well as their own

    transformation now stage two

    is when the oppressed have been

    transformed and the pedagogy is of

    all people who are seeking permanent

    liberation by continually seeking

    to remove quote the myths created and

    developed in the old order

    which like specters haunt the new

    structure emerging from the

    revolutionary transformation

    end quote from page 49. so stage one

    of pedagogy of the press is to getting

    the oppressed to realize that

    they are oppressed and stage two after

    the oppressed have been liberated

    it's this continual reflection on

    oppression and the oppressed

    in relation to prior values of the

    oppressed and how they are informing the

    current situation

    or the current understandings now on the

    other hand

    the oppressors are actively working

    towards maintaining power structures and

    power dynamics

    and maintaining this level of oppression

    because it works in their favor

    at the cost of others here's a quote

    from page 50 that really resonates with

    what i'm seeing in online discourse and

    how people are communicating to each

    other

    and resonates with some of the stuff

    that you're going to hear in

    discussions in future interviews that

    have not been released yet

    this is from page 50. quote for the

    oppressors

    however it is always the oppressed whom

    they obviously never called the

    oppressed

    but depending on whether they are fellow

    countrymen or not those people

    or the blind and envious masses or

    savages

    or natives or subversives who are

    disaffected

    who are violent barbaric wicked

    or ferocious when they react to the

    violence of the oppressors

    end quote okay so to kind of rephrase

    that

    in other words the oppressors who are

    enacting violence

    on the oppressed will then point the

    finger at them and say well you're the

    one who's being violent

    okay so as a very contemporary example

    of this this really resonates right now

    with black lives matter protest

    there are people who are acting out who

    are saying why you being violent why are

    you acting out

    but what they're not realizing is that

    there are systemic forms of violence

    that protesters are responding to to tie

    it into the classroom this also

    resonates with

    discussions on classroom behavior

    management techniques as well as school

    and faculty

    dress codes that ban natural hair or

    cultural attire or teachers who don't

    focus on standards etc

    in each of these scenarios the oppressed

    are being told

    how to behave and if they're not

    behaving accordingly then it is

    marked as disobedience so the author

    suggests that the liberation he is

    striving for

    should not reverse the oppressors and

    the oppressed again says that multiple

    times throughout it

    however even when the formerly oppressed

    are now on equal grounds

    with the former oppressors the former

    oppressors sometimes don't feel

    liberated

    quote on the contrary they genuinely

    consider themselves to be oppressed

    conditioned by the experience of

    oppressing others any situation

    other than their former seems to them

    like oppression

    end quote page 52 so in other words

    because the former oppressor

    viewed everything as being reduced to

    objects for their own disposal

    the new regime status or way of being is

    interpreted

    as oppression on their former modes of

    domination

    again this is very relevant to black

    lives matter

    and as we'll find out in this episode in

    other episodes

    is very relevant in education as well

    okay so here's a quote from page 53 that

    ties together many of the ideas that i

    just talked about

    quote the oppressors do not perceive

    their monopoly on having more

    as a privilege which dehumanizes others

    and themselves

    they cannot see that in the egoistic

    pursuit of having

    as a possessing class they suffocate in

    their own possessions

    and no longer are they merely have

    for them having more is an inalienable

    right

    a right they acquired through their own

    effort

    with their courage to take risks if

    others do not have more

    it is because they are incompetent and

    lazy and worst of all

    is their unjustifiable ingratitude

    towards the generous gestures of the

    dominant class

    precisely because they are ungrateful

    and envious

    the oppressed are regarded as potential

    enemies who must be watched

    end quote just as a quick aside this

    book was originally translated in

    english in 1970

    that's 1970 so 50 years ago at the time

    of this recording

    and it sounds like it could have been

    written this year

    okay so the discourse that is used by

    the oppressors

    often positions the oppressed as an

    enemy or ungrateful

    or unworthy or unwilling to live the way

    that the oppressor is living

    however it does not acknowledge the

    control that goes on with it so let's

    talk about that for a moment

    so freddy argues an important thing to

    note is that some oppressors

    actually align with the oppressed and

    are fighting alongside them so they join

    the cause

    however they do so in a way that

    maintains their status as an oppressor

    so for example instead of working

    alongside or using their power to

    elevate voices

    they believe they must be in control of

    the transformation and take the lead

    this however can create problems where

    the allies end up taking control of the

    narrative

    so as an example in one of the

    interviews that's going to release down

    the road

    i'm speaking with a guest and talking

    about how a lot of well-intentioned cis

    people have taken the control of the

    narrative of

    non-binary individuals and trans

    individuals

    so stay tuned for a future interview

    that actually unpacks that a little bit

    more just give me a teaser

    so to prevent this problem of taking

    control of the narrative

    the author recommends that we

    collectively everyone need to just

    continuously re-examine ourselves

    because quote attempting to liberate the

    oppressed without the reflective

    participation in the act of liberation

    is to treat them as objects which must

    be saved from a burning building

    it is to lead them into the populist

    pitfall and transform them

    into masses which can be manipulated end

    quote

    from page 59. now another way that

    the author mentions oppressors maintain

    control over people

    is that they control their dominance by

    positioning the oppressed against each

    other and making it so the oppressed

    are attracted to the oppressor's way of

    life so think of

    various assimilation tactics that are

    used today

    so people immigrate into this country

    and

    their ways of being and their values are

    not valued by the dominant culture

    and they are asked to assimilate into

    that that is a form of control

    and from a cultural standpoint okay so

    what does that example look like in the

    classroom

    so one example that comes to mind is the

    ways that kids are supposed to behave in

    class

    so how loud their voices are or soft

    their voices are

    how they are supposed to sit whether

    they are supposed to get up

    frequently or just maintain sitting in a

    seat for an extended period of time

    whether they're supposed to ask

    questions or not ask questions whether

    they're supposed to question authority

    in particular

    whether they can pose alternatives to

    assignments whether they can set their

    own assignment dates these are all

    simple examples of ways that educators

    can unintentionally

    act as oppressors in a classroom setting

    and the way that it's done is by

    asserting certain ways of learning in

    certain ways of being within

    quote learning environments as being

    more acceptable or less acceptable than

    others

    this is a form of control and a form of

    dominance

    and if you listen to many of the

    interviews in this podcast you'll hear

    that many of the guests have talked

    about how they try and avoid that they

    try and make it so that it's

    students have a voice and that is

    interest driven and that kids are able

    to set their own expectations and ways

    of being

    in a classroom setting etc these are all

    ways that align with the author's

    approach of pedagogy of oppressed

    whether it's stated or not they're at

    least related to it

    okay so one more tactic of control is

    that oppressors often end up controlling

    the narrative about the oppressed and

    eventually getting him to believe

    their own negative image so for an

    example one of the studies that i have

    read

    is a discourse analysis on the use of

    the word urban in professional journals

    now what was found is that the way that

    urban was used was very different in

    terms of the kinds of descriptions used

    for other words like suburban

    or rural schools in fact the discourse

    around urban

    schooling often used negative

    terminology saying that students were

    lacking

    or just a general deficit model and that

    students were incapable of assimilating

    to

    the proper quote ways of schooling and

    learning

    so again the oppressors in this case

    people who are writing

    journal articles were controlling the

    narrative

    on describing urban kids and urban

    learning

    and learning an urban context as being

    deficient or lacking

    and that can carry over into the kids

    who go to those schools as

    feeling like they are deficient or

    lacking even if they're not

    especially if we ask the question

    deficient and lacking in what

    and according to whom okay so how can

    the oppressed and the oppressors work

    towards freedom for everyone

    so the author suggests that it is

    through permanent dialogue in particular

    dialogue that leads to reflection in

    action

    so this is where the first chapter ends

    and again this first chapter is more on

    some of the

    larger problems that are on in play and

    later chapters are going to talk about

    what does this mean for education or

    educators we'll learn more about those

    in coming weeks

    now as always in the unpacking

    scholarship episodes i kind of like to

    end with some of my

    questions or lingering thoughts that i

    have so one of them is that since this

    was written 50 years ago we did not have

    a lot of publications on

    intersectionality so a question that i

    have is what are the intersectionalities

    of

    oppressor and oppressed so the author

    mentioned sub oppressors

    who were simultaneously oppressing their

    peers

    and oppressed by some kind of a boss in

    the example that was given in the book

    it was by the owner of a farm however i

    would argue that in educational context

    when i was in the classroom i was

    simultaneously

    oppressing students with some of the

    methods of control that were used for

    quote classroom management or whatever

    while simultaneously being oppressed by

    administrators

    who were telling me what good classroom

    teaching looked like or sounded like

    so in a context like school an educator

    might be on both ends of the oppression

    continuum

    in terms of simultaneously being

    oppressed by some kind of a force being

    controlled

    while also simultaneously oppressing

    others obviously unintentionally at

    least hopefully

    but again many of the episodes that i've

    already released for the interviews and

    many of the

    episodes that are going to release will

    kind of talk about how to limit these

    forms of control and make it so that

    we go with a more of a critical approach

    to pedagogy

    and engage in some liberatory practices

    another thought that i have that builds

    off of this

    is that there are many more nuances than

    two distinct categories of oppressor and

    oppressed so i wish the opening chapter

    discussed that more so instead of

    putting up this

    false binary instead acknowledging that

    there are

    more power dynamics at play that exist

    along this continuum of oppression

    so a question that i would leave you

    with is when is someone in cs education

    simultaneously an oppressor and someone

    who is oppressed

    we'll unpack this more in follow-up

    episodes

    however next week is an interview and

    it'll be two weeks from now when i will

    talk about chapter

    two and two weeks after that when i talk

    about chapter three etc

    so stay tuned for a continuation of this

    mini-series on the book pedagogy of the

    oppressed

    and i hope you got something out of this

    discussion on the author's discussion of

    oppression

    whether it be something that you can

    learn and apply in the classroom or just

    something to help you better understand

    what's going on in the world right now

    i hope you're all having a wonderful

    week and i hope you're all staying safe

Chapter

Freire, P. (2000). Chapter 1. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition (Kindle, pp. 39–64). New York: Bloomsbury Academic.


Short Summary of the Book

"This book will present some aspects of what the writer has termed the pedagogy of the oppressed, a pedagogy which must be forged with, not for, the oppressed (whether individuals or peoples) in the incessant struggle to regain their humanity. This pedagogy makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation. And in the struggle this pedagogy will be made and remade." (pp. 43-44).


Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts

  • What are the intersectionalities of oppressor and oppressed?

  • When is someone in CS education simultaneously an oppressor and someone who is oppressed?


Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode

  • Other podcast episodes that were mentioned or are relevant to this episode

    • Culturally Responsive-sustaining Computer Science Education: A Framework

      • In this episode I unpack the Kapor Center’s (2021) publication titled “Culturally responsive-sustaining computer science education: A framework,” which describes multiple courses of action for six core components of culturally responsive-sustaining CS education.

    • Decolonizing Education through SEL and PBL with Matinga Ragatz

      • In this interview with Matinga Ragatz, we discuss Matinga’s journey into education, creating environments where kids can learn through struggle, the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL), how schools promote individualism and exceptionalism, the intersections of project-based learning and SEL, decolonizing education, the importance of shared values in education, and so much more.

    • Education for Liberation with Martin Urbach

      • In this interview with Martin Urbach, we discuss the importance of intentionality in education, exploring the social/political/historical contexts that can be explored in an educational experience, student choice and agency in the design of a space or experience, how to fight oppressive systems in education from the inside, committing to continuing to learn and grow on a daily basis, and much more.

    • How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

      • In this episode I provide a framework for how districts and educators can get started with computer science education for free.

    • Intersections of Cultural Capital with Kimberly Scott

      • In this interview with Kimberly Scott, we discuss some of the problems with discourse around grit, students as techno-social change agents, teaching with culturally responsive approaches in communities that are hostile toward culturally responsive pedagogies, unpacking discourse and Discourse, considering both present and future identities when teaching, potential disconnects between theory and practice with intersectional work, comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comforted, and so much more.

    • Liberatory Computing Education for African American Students

      • In this episode I unpack Walker, Sherif, and Breazeal’s (2022) publication titled “Liberatory computing education for African American students,” which unpacks and situates the five pillars of the liberation framework proposed by El-Amin within data activism modules.

    • Open Design for Learning with Aria Chernik

      • In this interview with Aria Chernik, we discuss student-centered engagement situated within authentic contexts, problems with focusing entirely on capitalistic purposes of education, using critical pedagogies to problematize power dynamics in the classroom, using an open design for learning, the phenomenology of collaboration, creating a space that encourages taking risks in education, and much more.

    • Pedagogy of the Oppressed

      • Chapter one

        • This episode is the start of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 1, which discusses how oppressors maintain control over the oppressed. Following unpacking scholarship episodes discuss what this looks like in education and how educators can adopt a “pedagogy of the oppressed” to break cycles of oppression.

      • Chapter two

        • This episode is episode two of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 2, which discusses the “banking” approach to education that assumes students are repositories of information, and then proposes a liberatory approach to education that focuses on posing problems that students and teachers collaboratively solve. If you haven’t listened to the discussion on the first chapter, click here.

      • Chapter three

        • This episode is episode three of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 3, which discusses the importance of dialogue when engaging in liberatory practices. This episode builds off the previous unpacking scholarship episodes on chapter one and chapter two, so make sure you listen to those episodes before jumping in here.

      • Chapter four

        • This episode is the final episode of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 4, which synthesizes the concepts introduced in the previous chapters and discusses the difference between anti-dialogical and dialogical practices in education (and at large). This episode builds off the previous unpacking scholarship episodes on chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three so make sure you listen to those episodes before jumping in here.

    • Racial Justice Amidst the Dangers of Computing Creep: A Dialogue

      • In this episode I unpack Shah and Yadav’s (2023) publication titled “Racial justice amidst the dangers of computer creep: A dialogue,” which presents a dialogue that problematizes issues around racial justice in computing education.

    • Re-examining Inequalities in Computer Science Participation from a Bourdieusian Sociological Perspective

      • In this episode I unpack Kallia and Cutts’ (2021) publication titled “Re-examining inequalities in computer science participation from a Bourdieusian sociological perspective,” which uses Bourdieu’s discussions of capital, habitus, and field to analyze 147 publications on CS interventions.

    • The Shire as Metaphor for Systemic Racism with Joyce McCall

      • In this interview with Joyce McCall, we unpack and problematize some of the issues around race and racism in relation to education. In particular, we discuss the importance of allies not only showing up to support marginalized or oppressed groups, but staying when conversations get uncomfortable; the Shire from the Lord of the Rings as a metaphor for hegemony and systemic racism; as well as a variety of theories such as critical race theory, double consciousness, cultural capital; and much more.

    • What if Freire Had Facebook? A Critical Interrogation of Social Media Woke Culture Among Privileged Voices in [Computer Science] Education Discourse

      • In this episode I unpack Coppola’s (2021) publication titled “What if Freire had Facebook? A critical interrogation of social media woke culture among privileged voices in music education discourse,” which summarizes Paulo Freire’s works and hypothesizes how Freire may have responded to some forms of woke culture.

    • More episodes related to anti-racism

    • More episodes related to Black Lives Matter

    • More episodes related to equity

    • More episodes related to pedagogy

    • More episodes related to Pedagogy of the Oppressed

    • More episodes related to social justice

    • All other episodes

  • Read Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

  • Learn more about critical pedagogy by checking out resources by the Freire Institute

  • Dissertation by Dawn Farmer that explores discourse around the use of the word “urban” in professional discourse

  • Find other CS educators and resources by using the #CSK8 hashtag on Twitter



More Content