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Pedagogy of the Heart
Pedagogy of the Heart represents some of the last writings by Paulo Freire. In this work, perhaps more so than any other, Freire presents a coherent set of principles for education and politics. For those who have read Freire's other works the book includes new discussions of familiar subjects including community, neoliberalism, faith, hope, the oppressed, and exile. For those coming to Freire for the first time, the book will open up new ways of looking at the interrelations of education and political struggle. Freire reveals himself as a radical reformer whose lifelong commitment to the vulnerable, the illiterate and the marginalised has had a profound impact on society and education today.
The text includes substantive notes by Ana Maria Araújo Freire, a foreword by Martin Carnoy and a preface by Ladislau Dowbor.
The text includes substantive notes by Ana Maria Araújo Freire, a foreword by Martin Carnoy and a preface by Ladislau Dowbor.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
33 people are currently reading
1092 people want to read
About the author
Paulo Freire
163 books1,424 followersThe Brazilian educator Paulo Freire is among most the influential educational thinkers of the late 20th century. Born in Recife, Brazil, on September 19, 1921, Freire died of heart failure in Sao Paulo, Brazil on May 2, 1997. After a brief career as a lawyer, he taught Portuguese in secondary schools from 1941-1947. He subsequently became active in adult education and workers' training, and became the first Director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife (1961-1964).
Freire quickly gained international recognition for his experiences in literacy training in Northeastern Brazil. Following the military coup d'etat of 1964, he was jailed by the new government and eventually forced into a political exile that lasted fifteen-years.
In 1969 he was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and then moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he assumed the role of special educational adviser to the World Congress of Churches. He returned to Brazil in 1979.
Freire's most well known work is Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970). Throughout this and subsequent books, he argues for system of education that emphasizes learning as an act of culture and freedom. He is most well known for concepts such as "Banking" Education, in which passive learners have pre-selected knowledge deposited in their minds; "Conscientization", a process by which the learner advances towards critical consciousness; the "Culture of Silence", in which dominated individuals lose the means by which to critically respond to the culture that is forced on them by a dominant culture. Other important concepts developed by Freire include: "Dialectic", "Empowerment", "Generative Themes/Words", "Humanization", "Liberatory Education", "Mystification", "Praxis", " Problematization", and "Transformation of the World".
http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/con...
Freire quickly gained international recognition for his experiences in literacy training in Northeastern Brazil. Following the military coup d'etat of 1964, he was jailed by the new government and eventually forced into a political exile that lasted fifteen-years.
In 1969 he was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and then moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he assumed the role of special educational adviser to the World Congress of Churches. He returned to Brazil in 1979.
Freire's most well known work is Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970). Throughout this and subsequent books, he argues for system of education that emphasizes learning as an act of culture and freedom. He is most well known for concepts such as "Banking" Education, in which passive learners have pre-selected knowledge deposited in their minds; "Conscientization", a process by which the learner advances towards critical consciousness; the "Culture of Silence", in which dominated individuals lose the means by which to critically respond to the culture that is forced on them by a dominant culture. Other important concepts developed by Freire include: "Dialectic", "Empowerment", "Generative Themes/Words", "Humanization", "Liberatory Education", "Mystification", "Praxis", " Problematization", and "Transformation of the World".
http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/con...
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 23, 2021
Some really important reflections on social justice movements, hope and liberation amongst other topics that continue to be relevant and inspiring.
July 14, 2007
The ideas in this book are as dense as the words. Here is a quote I especially liked:
"no one is old just because he or she was born a long time ago or you because he or she was born a short time ago. People are old or young much more as a function of how they think of the world, the availability they have for curiosity, giving themselves to knowledge."
you are only old once you stop learning.
"no one is old just because he or she was born a long time ago or you because he or she was born a short time ago. People are old or young much more as a function of how they think of the world, the availability they have for curiosity, giving themselves to knowledge."
you are only old once you stop learning.
November 14, 2018
This was a very challenging book, and I'm not terribly sure what I got out of it, but there were some moments that were truly profound
June 7, 2022
mr freire… such a king. pedagogy of the oppressed changed my life and solidified my world views as both a communist and a humanist, and these final writings of freire’s life weren’t necessarily as eye-opening for me but still musings i feel lucky to have been able to take in and ponder. i saw a tweet the other day that said freire and frantz fanon write theory so beautifully that they would have been incredible fiction writers, and i agree, and it goes beyond just the beauty/flow/poetry of his theory; it also has to do with the way that he world builds within his writings, pushing the reader to always believe that a better world is possible and only by our shaping of it. bought used @ codex in ev
March 1, 2008
In Pedagogy of the Heart, Freire reveals several of his meditations on the relationship between education and political struggle. It is both a powerful and challenging book - challenging in the dual sense that it can be difficult to read, but also in the sense that the message you extract from his writings invites you to take action.
This quote struck me as being powerful:
"The learning of tolerance takes place through testimony. Above all, it implies that, while fighting for my dream, I must not become passionately closed within myself. It is necessary that I open myself to knowledge and refuse to isolate myself within the circle of my own truth or reject all that is different from it or from me. Tolerance is the open, postmodernly progressive way for me, while living with the different, to learn from it and better fight the antagonistic." (Freire, Heart 50-51)
In the fight for liberation, we must be careful not to become the next oppressors.
This quote struck me as being powerful:
"The learning of tolerance takes place through testimony. Above all, it implies that, while fighting for my dream, I must not become passionately closed within myself. It is necessary that I open myself to knowledge and refuse to isolate myself within the circle of my own truth or reject all that is different from it or from me. Tolerance is the open, postmodernly progressive way for me, while living with the different, to learn from it and better fight the antagonistic." (Freire, Heart 50-51)
In the fight for liberation, we must be careful not to become the next oppressors.
January 2, 2009
This man is so smart. Might be a good idea to read Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first. My professor helped explain a lot of things that I may not have understood having not read the first book.
January 8, 2018
Amazing book. It touches deep down into activist educators everywhere!
January 14, 2023
I ordered a stack of Paulo Freire books because I have always read chapters or excerpts of his books but never read any of his works in their entirety. "Pedagogy of the Heart" sounded appealing, and it was skinny, so I thought I'd start there. I don't recommend starting there. I'm gonna head over to Pedagogy of the Oppressed next and I probably should have started there. I will likely return to this book one day, and I'll probably be more ready to take it in at that point.
I think the original title of this book is more appropriate, "Under the Shade of a Mango Tree." I feel like this book is what you might have gotten if you recorded Freire's inner monologue for an hour while he sat in the shadow of said fruit tree. It has a dense stream of consciousness feel to me. And there are gems in that stream of consciousness, but it's not always clear where he's going with things.
I thought about giving this three stars, but just can't bare to give three stars to a book by Freire. And the special nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout are enough that I think the four stars are probably deserved.
I think the original title of this book is more appropriate, "Under the Shade of a Mango Tree." I feel like this book is what you might have gotten if you recorded Freire's inner monologue for an hour while he sat in the shadow of said fruit tree. It has a dense stream of consciousness feel to me. And there are gems in that stream of consciousness, but it's not always clear where he's going with things.
I thought about giving this three stars, but just can't bare to give three stars to a book by Freire. And the special nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout are enough that I think the four stars are probably deserved.
July 1, 2024
“I cannot be if others are not; above all, I cannot be if I forbid others from being.”
“For that reason, in the struggle for change, we must be neither solely patient nor solely impatient, but (as noted) patiently impatient.”
“Risk only makes sense when it is taken for a valuable reason, an ideal, a dream beyond risk itself.”
“We speak of the lefts in the plural and the right in the singular. The singularity of the right has to do with the ease with which its different currents unify before danger.
Union among the left is always difficult and cumbersome.”
“the truth is that the future is created by us, through transformation of the present.”
“My struggle against capitalism is founded on that-its intrinsic perversity, its antisolidarity nature…
It has produced scarcity within abundance and need within plenty.”
“For that reason, in the struggle for change, we must be neither solely patient nor solely impatient, but (as noted) patiently impatient.”
“Risk only makes sense when it is taken for a valuable reason, an ideal, a dream beyond risk itself.”
“We speak of the lefts in the plural and the right in the singular. The singularity of the right has to do with the ease with which its different currents unify before danger.
Union among the left is always difficult and cumbersome.”
“the truth is that the future is created by us, through transformation of the present.”
“My struggle against capitalism is founded on that-its intrinsic perversity, its antisolidarity nature…
It has produced scarcity within abundance and need within plenty.”
February 10, 2025
Reflexões de Paulo Freire sobre sua terra natal, Recife, e a situação econômica do país de forma geral. Paulo Freire fala sobre políticas públicas que foram implementadas por Luiza Erundina, Lula e Dilma.
December 12, 2021
4.5
Sweet little book to carry me through December and 2022
Sweet little book to carry me through December and 2022
August 20, 2022
i need u as much as u need me
January 17, 2023
“My struggle against capitalism is founded on that-its intrinsic perversity, its antisolidarity nature.”
Want to read
May 23, 2012I believe that the original title of this book translated from Portuguese was Under the Shade of this Mango Tree. Based on that title alone, I love it. I am half-way through this book and am enjoying the challenge as much as Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Love Freire.
May 9, 2013
A progressive thinker, Freire explains his position on the responsibility of people to overcome oppressive behavior. There is an undertone of human decency that leans toward his faith that is evident in this book that I haven't seen as strongly articulated as in his other books.
July 27, 2012
one of my favorites
October 3, 2024
Just as insightful and powerful as his earlier works, and particularly pertinent reading for leftists in their organizing work in the contemporary U.S.
Read
July 13, 2017Pedagogy of the Heart is a book of light written on the wind -- meant to stir the reader into action. This book is written with an epistemological curiosity that is rooted in the pedagogy of freedom and is given a lyrical expression that engages the spirit. Paulo Freire's insights on social change, exile, curiosity, dialogue, and hope are transformative. Upon finishing this splendid book, my spirit cannot cease humming Dylan's advice: he not busy being born is busy dying.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews