Currently Reading

I've had this classic on my "to read" list for a while. Like any text (or artwork), readers bring their own life experience into their interpretation and I finally felt like it was time to crack the spine.

Here are some thoughts as scribbled in the margins of my copy of Pedagogy of the Oppressed influenced by my current experiences as a former museum educator, returning art teacher, and first time elementary level art teacher.

Chapter 1

This chapter is framing the theory and introducing terminology for the reader. It’s dense and repetitive (as philosophy tends to be), but hang in there. If you are familiar with post-colonial studies and terminology, - which you probably already are since you’ve chosen to add this to your reading list - you’ll gain a deeper understanding.

“Liberation” is a mutual process of students teaching teachers and teachers teaching students. Teachers often forget about the former and concentrate on the later; students may not realize the former, because of power dynamics (how can I teach this person in power? Surely they are all knowing. Wait a minute…no they aren’t!).

Colonizer waltzes in; encourages submission; insists they know better; ignores the legitimacy of culture, beliefs, and language of the colonized.

This reminds me, I saw a really awesome exhibition The Belhaven Republic (A Delta Blues), 1793-1795 at the University of Memphis by Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers) based on the artist’s fictionalized Frenglish Empire and the attempted siege of Memphis tangling fact and fiction with historical past and contemporary present. It was stunning. Here are some photos.

"What's Mine is Mine, What's Yours is Mine. I Aint taking no shorts in '95," 2016, Ink coffee and tea on paper

Alphones "Big River" Leclerc, King of the (Spanish puppet) Choctaw Empire

Alphonse, an ambitious warrior born to a wealthy Frenglish father and a Choctaw mother, rose to become the king of the Choctaw Empire after helping the Spanish take New Orleans from an isolated Frenglish garrison. He led the Siege of Memphis with his "friend" Lazaro in an effort to defeat his old enemies, the Chicasaw, and control the southern river trade.

Chapter 1 is interesting to read during the political climate of 2017. The election of '45 has raised the spotlight on our nation's foundational obsession with white supremacy. Freire writes on page 57 of my edition, "Conditioned by the experience of oppressing others, any situation other than their former seems like oppression." Just going to leave that there.

Freire writes a lot about authentic dialogue that is both critical and liberating. Dialogue in combination with reflection can lead to action and liberation. As an art teacher, how do we encourage authentic, critical dialogue? In a recent exchange with a colleague, they expressed that it took so long for the "minority students" to open up and shed light on their realities and how it was powerful for everyone in art class. I started thinking about the good intentions of the teacher, but how they were still perpetuating the continued mindset of the oppressor. It is the tendency for people from the dominant culture to expect individuals from the oppressed culture to educate the former on what it's like to be them, which Freire also discusses in Chapter 1. I'm still thinking through this. How can we balance students exploring their own realities through their art and authentic (two-sided) dialogue? What is the best way for a teacher genuinely interested in promoting a classroom culture of liberation to educate themselves? What is the best way to ensure students are sharing in the responsibility of learning and teaching?

Choice-based art education is continuing to rise in popularity. New visual arts standards for Tennessee will roll out in the 2018 school year and place a heavy emphasis on student choice and collaborative learning. This pedagogy is a part of the answer to engaging students in liberating dialogue and art making.

Chapter 2

also answers some of the questions above. On page 80-81 he writes "The problem-posing educator constantly reforms his reflections in the reflection of the students. The students -no longer docile listeners- are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher. The teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and reconsiders her earlier considerations as the students express their own."

Oh, buddy. When Freire starts letting lose on "banking" education...well, too many art educators are trapped in the cycle of banking education. On page 83, "Banking education treats students as objects of assistance; problem-posing education makes them critical-thinkers." Objects of assistance. Ouch. I'll admit to banking education in my own teaching practice occasionally. And let's look historical at art education - old masters and apprenticeships. Do what I do and you will be an artist. Let's all make the thing. What does it mean for our students if we present art lessons in which all students are expected to make a copy of the teacher example? Is this oppression?

I think Sir Ken Robinson's book Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education (another currently reading) text tackles the banking education system as derived from and industrial and capitalistic mindset and alternative approaches. As arts educators, we are (theoretically and ideally) at an advantage to teach beyond the banking approach and to be problem-posing educators. Do we always meet the mark? How (often) do we reflect on our practice and consider if we are banking or problem-posing; if our students are object of assistance or critical thinkers?

Chapter 3

breaks down dialogue into reflection and action.

Failure to engage in dialogue / silence is participating in oppression and therefore an act of violence. On page 88, Friere writes, "Human existence cannot be silent, nor can it be nourished by false words."

How do educators balance standards and content with current events and student realities? How do educators navigate personal bias to engage in true dialogue? Do traditional teacher preparation programs consider their own perpetuation of oppressive pedagogy in future teachers?

On page 95, "The revolutionary's role is to liberate, and be liberated, with the people - not to win them over."

This quote brings me back to my colleague's discussion mentioned earlier.

On pages 100-101, Freire begins to discuss the ability of people (as opposed to animals) to reflect on their lives and actions through the creation of products detached from themselves. "It is as transforming and creative beings that humans, in their permanent relations with reality, produce not only material goods - tangible objects- but also social institutions, ideas, and concepts." The art historian in me cannot help but to connect this with the philosophy, pedagogy and artwork of Joseph Beuys. After all, the two were contemporaries.

Beuys nutshell: Everyone is an artist - has valuable and unique contributions to society - which when working together creates social sculpture.

A quick Google search and I'll bookmark this article for a later read.

Chapter 4

is my currently reading section. I'll update when I've finished.