Teaching has been one of my intellectual pleasures that reward me everyday whenever I enter the classroom and start a quest with students whom I cherish dearly. You see, teaching is not just a job; rather, it is what makes me realize that change is possible, and that liberation cannot be achieved without a critical examination of the way we teach students.
One of the books that brought me closer to my students is Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I do embrace his teaching philosophy and his illuminating, liberating thoughts on the importance of critical pedagogy in our schools and other educational institutions. It is a must-read for teachers, educators, students, parents, and, arguably, people of all walks of life and of all cultures.
One main aspect in the book is his warning that the oppressed may become oppressors. This aspect is what I like to examine in this post. Specifically, I like to examine how his book can help us understand and analyze news about the Middle East where I grew up, and wish to go back and teach. The situation there is not promising as news about several Arab countries narrate stories of oppression on many levels. The question that I am struggling with here is this: To what extent can Freire's approach to fight oppression be applicable in the Middle East?
Honestly, I think that the answer is not very promising. It seems almost impossible to imagine that the Arab Spring has succeeded in changing the oppression structures in many of the countries whose presidents have been ousted. In short, the oppressed have become the oppressors, and it seems that there is no way out of this vicious circle.
I wish you can understand the amount of frustration that pricks me whenever I visit the Middle East and watch how people have almost surrendered to the fact that the Arab Spring has brought nothing but individuals seeking power and revenge from their oppressors. But there is still a glimpse of hope that change is possible. But such change cannot be attained by one individual reading Freire's book. Only when educational institutions allow such books in their sets of course, can we discuss his ideas, act upon them, and later, witness the change that we truly seek.
Is that even possible? I shall argue that it is possible provided that we establish private schools and educational centers that empower students and allow them to develop critical skills that enable them to realize and understand the dangers of the existing situation and the need to rethink their positionalities in society. I admit that what I am seeking here is difficult to achieve, and may take many years before we hear news about a different Middle East where oppressed Egyptians stop oppressing their oppressors, Libyans stop killing relatives and friends of those who oppressed them once, Iraqis refrain from targeting members of Saddam Hussein's Baath ruling party....and so many other examples that just cripple my hopes of a better future.
Noura,
ReplyDeleteI as well find in unnerving when news about new regimes coming into power in the Middle East becomes saturated with stories about the oppressed becoming the oppressors, and Freire warns about such occurrences.
Ina microcosmic example, I find it similar to children becoming parents themselves. Children often speak of the things they won't do as their parents did unto them. However, how many cliched moments have their been in which that same child, who is now a parent themselves exclaim "No! I've become my father/mother."
I also find some of the problem in the Middle East stems from the theocratic nature of each new regime that comes to power. This poses a hard question for those living according to faith, not only for the Middle East but for all countries. Each individual has to struggle with two separate ideals, one that calls for their faith to be integrated in everything that they do, and the other towards a desire for self and domestic improvement.
I find this reference to examining faith especially interesting in regards to my personal narrative. I believe that placing self in a subjective role in both spaces allows one to relive a liminal role... Understanding how this liminal role should function is interesting to both the oppressor and oppressed.
DeleteI would like to point out that I did not mean to imply self and domestic improvement cannot be attained through means of faith, but to differentiate living a life of faith as an individual versus imposition of that faith on others' journey toward self and domestic improvement.
DeleteNoura,
ReplyDeleteYou truly hit on the challenge of enacting Freire’s approach. The desire for the oppressed to wield power is so tempting. The possibility of the oppressed becoming the oppressor is always problematic (I’m sure that Foucault may come up in this discuss and perhaps even Gidden’s Structuration Theory. For Freire he turns to Habermas and discusses the “autonomy and responsibility” (p. 47) of freedom. There is always risk in seeking freedom. And once you have it responsibility in how you use that freedom. I’m looking forward to our class discussion on chapter 1! -- kal
I wonder how it might be possible to bring the oppressor into a relationship with the oppressed in a way that can be constructive as Freire describes?
DeleteNora, I am particularly struck by the compassion I can hear behind your frustration that resonates with the way the reading made me feel. I would love to hear more of how you see this happening, i.e. what changes would a private school have to make to facilitate those changes?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post because as a minority in a space of higher education, I find that avoiding the role of becoming an oppressor is often quite difficult... especially when I am in the role of an educator. Interesting conversation I had in a literature class about writing styles and presenting topics/paper/discourses to the public. Are we writing specifically for academic purposes (i.e. publishing) or are we truly trying to engage our reader (i.e. intended audience, implied audience)? Truly understanding my role in being both oppressed and having the power to become an oppressor, truly is a difficult task and an additional forward should be placed in a new edition of his book.
ReplyDeleteLaura,
Deleteyour discussion about being both oppressor and oppressed is so interesting, necessary, and worth academic research. There is a need to understand the dynamics of both roles, when both roles intersect, and whether one role dominates the other. In just a few days, this semester will end and I will not be teaching in the future. My role as an oppressor (teacher) will end eventually. As a grad student, I see myself as both oppressor (within the hierarchy of academia) and oppressed (a student subject to assignments and academic regulations). How do we theorize this? And how do we view ourselves after graduation? What about those around us? How do they view us?