Paulo Freire's Notion of Oppression, Conscientization and Revolution

(Franz Giuseppe Cortez)

On this thesis, I will explore Paulo Freire's understanding about oppression,

conscientization and revolution. I will argue that these three Freirean concepts are essentially

intertwined. The notion of oppression is Freire's diagnosis of the society. The concept of

conscientization is the educational tool to understand the root causes of oppression. The program

of revolution is the concrete response to the problem of oppression.

A. Background of the Study

There was once a Latin American woman who went into the confessional box feeling sorry

for receiving the Holy Communion because she came late for Mass. She said that she was craving

for the host. The hunger was not of a spiritual nature but a physical one…she had not eaten for

three days. There was a Latin American bishop who promised to himself that each day of his life,

he would give food to some hungry person he would meet. He was motivated to do it when he

saw a mother agonizingly feeding her baby from her breast that had no more milk…the breast was

already bleeding. These real stories exemplifying the suffering and misery of the Latin American

populace commenced the book Introducing Liberation Theology authored by Leonardo and

Clodovis Boff.1

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and philosopher in the second half of the 20th century,

was an eyewitness of this face of inhumanity in Latin American reality. Spectator that he was, he

did not choose to be a passive one though. He engaged actively in the social and political affairs

of Brazil, of greater Latin America and of other oppressed countries in Africa and Asia. With his

passionate commitment and creative genius, he was able to conceive of a method of teaching and

learning with the oppressed not only by juxtaposing but by recreating the ideas of different

1
Leonardo and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology (New York: Orbis Books, 1987), 1-2.
philosophers, thinkers and revolutionaries. His pedagogical method aims and practices a process

of teaching and learning that leads to the emergence of the critical consciousness of the oppressed;

critical because it leads to the unfolding of the real situation of the oppressed and their commitment

to act and transform it. Since oppression is as real and concrete as portrayed by a morally guilty

woman who was famished for a host and by a mother who helplessly fed her child from a bleeding

breast, then the overcoming of oppression must be accomplished in the concrete by the interrelated

acts of reading the word, reading the world and transforming the world.

Paulo Freire is not the usual philosopher who wrestled with abstract ideas and propositions

from an ivory tower, detached from the realities of day-to-day human existence. Given a situation

that calls for active reflection and reflective action, he embarked on a journey of philosophizing in

the concrete and concretizing in philosophy.

B. Statement of the Problem

This paper aims to present the central and interweaving themes of oppression,

conscientization and revolution in the social and political philosophy of Paulo Freire. It mainly

answers the question: What is Paulo Freire’s view on oppression, conscientization and revolution?

Taking also into consideration the extent of Freire’s influence – garnering adulation and

condemnation alike – in the field of education, efforts for social development and political

struggles, the researcher offers some reflective and timely points for those who are interested to

engage in intellectual discourse with the works of Paulo Freire. With all these considerations in

mind, I specifically deal with the following questions: (a) What is Paulo Freire’s view of

oppression in relation to its concomitant themes of class differentiation and humanization? (b)

What is conscientization? (c) What is Paulo Freire’s view of an authentic revolution and its

elements of violence, praxis and dialogue?

C. Scope and Limitation

Paulo Freire is acclaimed for his contribution in educational theories especially in the field

of adult literacy programs. Besides being an educator, Paulo Freire is also a social and political

thinker, a Christian existentialist and personalist philosopher, a liberation theologian, a community

organizer, a revolutionary in exile and a government official. His written works, then, besides

proposing pedagogical methods, touch also on theories of knowledge and human consciousness,

on socio-political themes and even theological and church issues. This study does not manifest a

detailed treatment of Freire’s literacy method otherwise known as Metodo Paulo Freire.2 Rather

it deals about his views regarding the subject of oppression, conscientization and revolution. Some

allusions will be made with regard to the content of his literacy method to further elucidate the

philosophical underpinnings of his critique of education. Hence, this research paper is basically a

lacing together of Freirean political, social and philosophical analyses.

D. Significance of the Study

Since the publication and translation into English of Paulo Freire’s inarguably most

acclaimed book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970),3 there have already been a number of books,

essays, articles and research papers in the domain of education, sociology, politics and philosophy

which were written. They accept or deny the main propositions of Paulo Freire. Still, one cannot

say outright that any further contribution in this bulk of materials is simply another nuisance in an

otherwise overcrowded research field about the man and his accomplishments. In the first place,

it is difficult to imagine that one can exhaust in its entirety the depth and breadth of such a brilliant

2
Denis E. Collins, Paulo Freire: His Life, Works and Thoughts (New York: Paulist Press, 1977), 7.
3
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, trans. Myra Bergman Ramos, with a foreword by Richard Shaull
(New York: The Continuum Publishing Corporation, 1970; reprint, 1984).
man as Paulo Freire. Secondly, it has never been that overcrowded. 4 This paper highlights the

logical connection of Freire’s ideas from the concreteness of oppression to the role of

conscientization to the inevitability of revolution in his critique of the human situation in society.

This is then a modest contribution in the continuing efforts to expose the main themes of Freirean

philosophy and pedagogy. If it may be able to stimulate further intellectual discourse on the

viability of Freire’s presuppositions in the events of contemporary social issues, then I feel much

more than rewarded.

E. Organization of the Study

The second chapter deals with Freire’s understanding of oppression and the opposing

classes of the oppressor and the oppressed. It goes on to discuss humanization as the vocation of

the human person amidst and inspite of the reality of oppression. Chapter Three discusses

conscientization as the first concrete step in the process of humanization. Freire finds it necessary

to elaborate the various levels of consciousness and to criticize the educational system in order to

highlight his emphasis on a liberating education that leads to conscientization. The fourth chapter

is an exposition of his notion of revolution. For him, revolution is inevitable, temporarily violent

but permanently dialogical. In the concluding chapter, some critical reflections are offered. Inspite

of the fundamental limitations of his thoughts, Freire continues to offer valuable contributions in

the incessant efforts to construct meaningful and relevant social and political theories for social

transformation.

F. Review of Related Literature

(AT LEAST 10 RELATED WORKS ARE REVIEWED)

4
I utilized the materials from Ateneo de Manila University Library, University of Santo Tomas Library and
Christ the King Seminary Library. In UST library, I found out that there are only two theses concerning Paulo Freire.
In the library of Christ the King Seminary, there is only one. And in the main library of Ateneo de Manila University,
there is none. The studies being referred are listed in the bibliography of this paper.