Rodolfo Hachén

Centre of Ethnolinguistics National University of Rosario,  

Learning from Popular Education

in Latin America:What Role Can Universities

Play?

26th April 2012

Glasgow

Rodolfo Hachénrhachen@hotmail.comwww.rodolfohachen.com.ar

UNR (Argentina) Researcher for

CONICET y UNESCO Activist for Human Rights, especially the right to education, Historical Memory and people's linguistic self-determination

(LaS LenguaS).

I firmly believe in Popular Education and the dream of Freire to have a “…society reinventing itself from the bottom up, where everyone has a right to an opinion and not only the duty to listen to others…”.

Utopía y globalización

The concept of globalization often seems linked tothat of homogenization and with policies

which deny differences and

endanger not only the cultural

patrimony of humanity but life

itself.

Chomsky, 2003

‘It’s no exaggeration to say that the future of the human species depends on whether or not the rebellion against neoliberalism can become

sufficiently strong, mobilised and organised to counter the

wave going in the other direction.''

Landner, E. “The difficulties in

formulating theoretical and political alternatives to the total primacy of the market are due to… the fact that neoliberalism is presented as an economic theory when it should really be understood as a hegemonic discourse of a model of civilization…”

Models of Civilization and Genocide

Humanity has suffered many "models of civilization" that tended to destroy otherness. In the form of invasions, empires, nation states, school systems and / or transnational economic projects, the techniques of domination have not substantially changed.

Education in the Service of Domination

“Schools don’t educate shepherds for sheep but sheep for shepherds.”

(L. Tolstoi)

“Schools or education can no longer  be understood  simply as vehicles for the transmission of the basic

skills required to earn a living or to maintain a country’s economic

competitiveness. For this economic-technological dimension of our civilization to be viable it must

be embedded in a human cultural context that sustains it.” (Bruner,

1997:10)

Educación Popular: Freire

“An education that enables people to  discuss their problems bravely, which warns of the dangers of the time so that, with awareness, people gain the strength and courage to fight instead of having to submit to the will of others and have their subjectivity destroyed. Education which places people in constant dialogue with each other, which predisposes  them to constant revision and critical  analysis of their 'discoveries', to a certain defiance, in the most human sense of the expression; in short, an education that identifies people  with scientific methods and processes”.(1969:85)

Another(better)world is possible

The first time I read this phrase was in a book treasured by my grandfather  about the ideas of the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Later I understood that "Education is risky because it reinforces the sense of possibility” (Bruner, 1997:62)

1963 The same year I was

born (1963), Paulo Freire  implemented his first large group educational experience, within the National Literacy Campaign, bringing literacy to 300 rural workers in a month and a half and laying the foundations for popular education which, by overcoming the ‘banking’ approach of schools in Latin America (and worldwide), rescued the active role of education for  the radical democratization of knowledge generation. His ideas and above all his liberating praxis transformed my conception of studying and learning.

“…to change the ugly face of school…”

Freire distanced himself from the authoriatarian idea of education. He made education relevant to everyone , based on the understanding of other people’s language and on the social construction of knowledge, within a well developed understanding of the identity of the ‘popular’ classes.

“To change the face of school is, basically, to change the organization

of the curriculum, to alter the understanding of teaching

methodology, what it means to'teach' and what it means to 'learn'. And this is

not done by decree. But you cannot democratise  school in an authoritarian

manner because it would be a contradiction.When you realise that, you find there are other ways to achieve that

goal. The main one is to be able to convince teachers, the continuous scientific training/education of the

teaching body.". (Paulo Freire)

ChallengeTo ensure the

establishment of Popular Education within the framework of an educational system which, as in most of Latin America and the rest of the world, seeks domestication more than liberation.

Educación Popular: Freire

“An education that enables people to  discuss their problems bravely, which warns of the dangers of the time so that, with awareness, people gain the strength and courage to fight instead of having to submit to the will of others and have their subjectivity destroyed. Education which places people in constant dialogue with each other, which predisposes  them to constant revision and critical  analysis of their 'discoveries', to a certain defiance, in the most human sense of the expression; in short, an education that identifies people  with scientific methods and processes”.(1969:85)

Educación Popular and diversity Diversity is a

characteristic inherent in humanity. Each group of people “speaks the world” (Charaudeau, 1988) in its own peculiar way and herein lies the richness of interculturality.

False opposition: equality/diversity

EQUALITY

is opposed to

INEQUALITY

DIVERSITY

Is opposed to

HOMOGENEITY.

Tolerance versus Respect Proper Popular Education should

promote respect for diversity within a framework of equal rights. We talk about RESPECT and not TOLERANCE because "tolerance permits cultural differences, which I think is very positive; but it doesn’t give them any right, it puts them in a situation of structural inferiority, constantly reminding them that there are limits which, if exceeded, can lead to prohibitions. It is better to be tolerated than outlawed, that’s true. But to be tolerated does not mean to have the same rights and freedoms as those of the dominant group members

.” (Wieviorka en Cisneros, 2004: 22)

Integration versus Articulation Integration is often a form of forced

"assimilation". The idea of articulation is a better approach because it lets us think of a complex structure "... in which things are related as much by their differences as their similarities. This makes it necessary to highlight the mechanisms that connect dissimilar features, since there is no 'necessary correspondence' nor can the hegemony of expression be taken for granted "(Stuart Hall to Jameson - Žižek,1993:99) In this complex structure of the social, cultural operators do not mix, losing their identities; instead they bring their differences together for the benefit of the whole mechanism, a mechanism in which there shouldn’t and can’t be any hegemony of power..

Inequality “Racism, class

privilege and prejudice, all amplified by the forms of poverty they create, have powerful effects on how much and how we educate…" (Bruner, 1997:45)

Original Peoples of America

Historically decimated, marginalized, robbed and kept away

from areas of institutional power, they await recognition and  enactment of their

rights in relation to land, identity and education. The social inequality which minority languages and cultures must suffer can be seen clearly when key

variables such as number of speakers, poverty levels and possibilities of access

to education are cross-referenced..

Argentina The highest rates of

illiteracy are seen in the northern provinces: Chaco with 12,33%, Corrientes with 10%; Santiago del estero with 9,54%, Formosa with 9,24%, Misiones with 9,11%, Jujuy with 7,85% y Salta with 7,57%.

Also in these provinces we find the highest rates of people 25 and over with little or no education (no more than 3 years of primary education). While the national average is 12.3%, we see much higher figures in these provinces: Chaco, 27.1%,Santiago del Estero, 21.9%, Formosa, 21.5%, Corrientes, 21.3%, 20.7% Misiones,Jujuy, 18.9% and Salta and Entre Rios, 17.6% (Pognante, 2003). The areas most affected by illiteracy correspond to the historically poorest provinces, those where you find the highest concentration of indigenous populations of Toba, Mocoví, Wichí, Guarani, Quechua, Pilagá, Mbyá, Chiriguano, Chane, Tapiete, Nivacle and Chorote. The Chiriguano language is spoken in this region by 15,000 people (Chiriguanos Tapités Chané, in the provinces of Salta and Jujuy), Mbya by 2,500-3,000 speakers (Mission), Toba, by 35,000 to 60,000 speakers (Chaco, Formosa, Salta), Nivacle by 200 to 1,200 speakers (Salta), Chorote by 1,200 to 2,100 speakers (Salta), Quichua Santiago from 60,000 to 100,000 speakers (Santiago del Estero), and Guarani Correntino (Goyano) and Paraguayan Guarani, 1,000,000 speakers(Censabella, 1999)

“…some day we might be able to talk about ethnic genocide as a thing of the past but cultural genocide is still active each time we try to impose better ways of life and congratulate ourselves when people who are proud and independent gradually succumb, in the best of cases, to the the good intentions of making them as much as possible like us and, in the worst of cases, leaving them just as they are so as to exploit them better.” (Romano, 2007: 190)

Nuestra tarea So it’s the job of

universities to address diversity not saying ‘of’ but ‘with’. We shouldn’t adopt a paternalistic approach but instead create a true climate for dialogue since, as indicated by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú “What we need isn’t that you give us a hand but that you take away the one you already have around our necks...”(Rigoberta Menchú)

Educación Popular and traditional conceptions of

education “Education, however it is organised,

in whichever culture, always has consequences on the subsequent lives of those who receive it. (…) education is never neutral, it never fails to have

social and economic consequences. Try as anyone might to argue against it, education is always political in this

wider sense” (Bruner, 1997:43 y 44)

Prescriptive institutions: church, school and literary criticism(Chartier -

Hebrard, 1994)

“With regard to prescription, various

groupings concentrated attention: the discourses of school, the

churches and literary criticism, and each one of them had an institution

of production and control, a legitimacy, a system of exclusion.”

(Chartier - Hebrard, 1994: 18)

Liberty as a threat

Free access to reading, for example, and especially its free interpretation, becomes a danger which threatens the stability of the most powerful institutions which, throuhout history, have based their power in their exclusive knowledge. The establishement of a unique set of knowledge alien to the social group has always been linked with power.

In the crossroads of education

Trapped in the well-known crossroads

between subverting or consolidating the established order, schools don’t always fail in their objective, but this objective answers to shemes and suppositions of which they are no longer even aware.

We believe that ‘An education sytem should help those who grow in a culture to find an identity within that culture” (Bruner, 1997:62) Education should promote the sense of AGENCY, REFLECTION and COLLABORATION always in conjunction with the socio-cultural dynamic.

¿What do we mean when we talk about Educación Popular?

In the history of (Latin) America, the

expression ‘popular education’ has often been used to refer to a variety of political and ideological questions. From religious beginnings in colonial times it

slowly changed in the 17th and 19th centuries under the influence of the Enlightenment and the beginning of

‘rationalism’.

Siglo XIX

The consolodation of Nation States

associated education with the builiding of a strong nationalist image. In the second half of the 19th century, in opposition to the dominant ideas,

there is an upsurge in anarchist and socialist groups and popular nationalist

governments who propose some alternative pedagogical practices

Siglo XX

“At the beginning of the 20th century the university extension model was introduced to Latin America and was synonymous with popular education. This was promoted by the work of the Movement for University reform. Examples would be Popular Universities and Indigenist Projects. In the 50s education is seen as decisive in the development of human resources and so the different education systems are modernised””

Decada del 60

“In the 60s education is seen as a resource for individuals to overcome marginalisation. In this period there is an upsurge in projects with a more political and social focus, directed towards changing the degree of participation of the popular classes. Inspired by the triumph of the Cuban revolution and the new position of the Church (Vatican II, The Latin American Bishops Conference and the Puebla Meeting), as well as by groups of intellectuals and the student sector, Popular Education becomes stronger and more resonant (..). From the 90s onwards it reconsiders its political position: society is seen as agglomaration of of spaces of confrontation of which the school is one. The struggle for a public popular education is the central approach in this decade”

The university plays a decisive role, pushed by workers organisations in Guatemala, El Salvador and Peru.

University

Extension is particularly popular in Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Argentina and indigenist education programmes begin to appear in Ecuador and Bolivia.

“A second stage of popular-democratic projects are represented by: the literacy work begun by Freire in Brazil (1961) during the government of Joao Goulart; the Reform carried out by the United Popular government of Salvador Allende in Chile (1970); the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) in Bolivia (1952-1964); the Arbenz government in Guatemala (1954); the Cuban Educational Reform (1958); the Educational Reform in Peru (1968) and Panama (1969), with the establishment of ‘schools of production’ during the government of ??????. The Reform in Bolivia took place underJuan José Torres (1970-1971) and in Nicaragua under the Sandinista government (1979-1991)”

Popular Education as an alternative to institutionalised models

The exclusion of poor people from educational institutions, the lack of provision and quality, as well as the

conception of people and society presented by state education, led groups of intellectuals – declaring

themselves to be on the side of the majority classes and committed to their

causes – to develop political-educational projects directed towards

the transformation of social structures..

Paulo Freire He analyses the institutional conceptions of

education applied in the dependent American countries, refering to the rootedness of what he calls the ‘culture of silence’ as a cause of subordination and control in the countries

which had been conquered. His fundamental critique of banking education leads him to develop a method for teaching literacy to adults which he himself puts into practice.

Freire recognised the political intentionality of education. To say your ‘word’ is the right of all

human beings and it is in dialogue, in communication with other people, that we can

reflect on the world which surrounds us in order to intervene in it critically. Freire abandons the hierarchical relationship

between educator and learner for a dialogical relationship in which knowledge is nourished

through exchange.

We can therefore conceptualize Popular Education "as a collective process through which the popular sectors manage to become the subject of history, director and protagonist of a project of liberation that takes account of its own class interests, …it should see itself as part of and support to a collective process through which the popular sectors, starting from their own social practice, build and consolidate their own political and ideological hegemony, ie developing the subjective conditions – political consciousness and popular organization – which will make the building of their own historical project possible for them." (Peresson, T.; Mariño, Germán; Cendales, Lola. Educación Popular y alfabetización en América Latina. Dimensión educativa. Colombia 1983. P. 116.)

Dictaduras de los 70 y 80 y proyectos neoliberales de los 90

Augusto Boal: Brazilian playwrite,

theatre director, known for developing the Theatre of the Oppressed, a theoretical concept and method for a people’s democratic theatre. He was jailed and tortured during the dictatorship, labelled as a ‘cultural activist’.”

Theatre of the Oppressed “Looking at the world,

beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed in all societies; ethnic groups, genders, classes and castes; we see the world as cruel and unjust. We are obliged to invent another world because we know another world is possible. But it’s our job to build it with our hands and act, both on stage and in life. Theatre can’t just be an event, it’s a form of life! We’re all actors; a citizen isn’t someone who lives in society, it’s someone who transforms it!

(Boal, 2009)

Role of Universities: to participate in the redefinition and promotion of popular

education “We need to redefine Popular Education and this time based on the link between different specific determinations such as an expression of the articulation of different national strategies or the product created by different concrete groups. It should be designed to promote the greatest capacity for transformation in a popular-democratic direction, towards the utopia of a just society.” (Adriana Puiggrós,. Historia y perspectiva de la Educación Popular latinoamericana. En: Mocair Gadotti e Carlos Alberto Tórres.).

However we conceptualise authentic educational practice, it’s process implies hope. Educators without hope contradict their practice...educators should always analyse the ideas coming from social reality. Comings and goings which enable a greater understanding of hope.

Paulo Freire