Paulo Freire and the Cold War Politics of Literacy
Andrew J. Kirkendall
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 10/2010
Pages: 264
Subject: History, Education, Language Arts and Disciplines
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807899533
DESCRIPTION
A native of Brazil's impoverished northeast, Freire developed adult literacy training techniques that involved consciousness-raising, encouraging peasants and newly urban peoples to see themselves as active citizens who could transform their own lives. Freire's work for state and national government agencies in Brazil in the early 1960s eventually aroused the suspicion of the Brazilian military, as well as of U.S. government aid programs. Political pressures led to Freire's brief imprisonment, following the military coup of 1964, and then to more than a decade and a half in exile. During this period, Freire continued his work in Chile, Nicaragua, and postindependence African countries, as well as in Geneva with the World Council of Churches and in the United States at Harvard University.
Andrew J. Kirkendall's evenhanded appraisal of Freire's pioneering life and work, which remains influential today, gives new perspectives on the history of the Cold War, the meanings of radicalism, and the evolution of the Left in Latin America.