CRITICAL LITERACY AND EMANCIPATORY POLITICS - THE WORK OF FREIRE,PAULO

This paper argues that Freire's pedagogical ideas stand in marked reac tion against a process of education characterised by prescription. In Freire's view, such a process consolidates sharply defined power relat ions and therefore perpetuates oppressive social forms. It argues that contained in Freire's pedagogy are the elements fora model of an alte rnative society. In the first section, attention is focused on Freire' s analysis of the process of ideological domination as it takes place among the oppressed, with specific reference to the context which infl uenced the development of his pedagogical ideas. The second section pr ovides an analytic exposition of the alternative pedagogy which Freire proposes with a view to contributing to what he calls 'cultural actio n for freedom'. The third section consists of a discussion on the appl ication of Freirean pedagogy in a post-revolutionary context. The peda gogy is here viewed as contributing to what Freire terms 'cultural rev olution'. Both 'cultural action for freedom' and 'cultural revolution' constitute key concepts for the development of critical literacy. Fre ire's pedagogy is here discussed for the most parr with an industriall y under-developed context in mind; for Freire's most significant pedag ogical experiences were closely tied to these contexts.