Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In reading the first chapter of this work by Paulo Freire my mind ran to several different scenarios that would serve as demonstrations for this line of thinking.  The theme of the dreadful balance of the oppressed and their oppressor has been played out continuously over the course of history in as small a space as a violent, dysfunctional domestic relationship to an entire race of people exploited and dominated by another race, either foreign or domestic.

 

One of the early and mind expanding points of this chapter is the fact the tension between the oppressed and the oppressor is just that -- there is a flow of power and submission flowing between the two and it is only the beleaguered oppressed who has the ultimate control to break the stream.  The other side of this point comes in understanding the oppressed is not the only one suffering dehumanization in this situation.  The oppressor is also dehumanized.  This may seem counter intuitive, so I will give an example.In our own American history we of course are all familiar with the plight of the African Americans and their generations of slavery and abuse.  It is not surprising to find one of the ways this institution was rationalized was to dehumanize the slaves, quite literally.  They were said to be ape-like, beasts, not capable of human feeling and attachment.  To tear a child away from their mother was both constant and expected – after all they don’t feel toward their young they way the whites do.  They nurse this one or the other.  They are not human.   Families separated and any attempt at families may have seemed quaint to a tolerant slave owner, as if they were just attempting to imitate the civilized white folk.   When a slave owner eased up on the slaves, it may have been thought of as a great kindness, instead of merely a brief relief of oppression. 

Skipping forward a few generations we find the African Americans technically free, but living in a society in which they are still regularly abused, discriminated, and generally given little opportunity to develop into the complete and free men and women they need to become.  Can anyone look at the footage of hate-filled white men and women screaming in the face of young black American’s who are trying to go to school or sit at a lunch counter and not see the oppressors as less than human?

As Freire explains, it is only the oppressed, finally realizing their oppression and fully comprehending the need for liberation which can free both the oppressed and the oppressor.  Often the oppressor will initially feel anger and (mistakenly) feel oppressed (see white-supremist movements of the 80’s).   However the need for liberation must come from the oppressed themselves.  This must be an honest and authentic desire, not the result of propaganda and persuasion which may, though perhaps be well-intentioned, manifest in just another form of oppression.