The Student Guide to Freire's 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed'

Darder does the masterful work of combining the personal and the political which both situates Paulo as a freedom fighter and his work as a deep and moving expression of the radical and social imagination. This is a manuscript that both theorizes pedagogy while it performs it in an accessible way that Paulo would have loved. Pedagogy in this sense is rooted in both a historical context and functions as a text to address the immensity of the burden that education as the practice of freedom has to address in the current moment of repression. This book should be considered a national treasure and will be read by future generations as a crucial text in both their understanding of Paulo’s classic work and as a text that will inspire and energize them. * Henry Giroux, Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest and Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, McMaster University, Canada *
In our current educational landscape of runway fetishization of methods, Antonia Darder’s exceptional book is must reading for all educators, particularly those who yearn to become agents of change. * Lilia I. Bartolomé, Professor of Education, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA *
Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential works in the field of Education. Antonia Darder’s new book provides excellent scholarly company for the attentive reader of this classic text. Darder sets Pedagogy of the Oppressed in its appropriate contexts, discusses its philosophical underpinnings, and demonstrates its continuing significance for educationists in the 21st century. This book will be welcomed by all who have an interest in Freire’s pedagogical theory and practice. * Peter Roberts, Professor of Education, University of Canterbury, New Zealand *
In this historical moment of enormous insolidarity, increasing injustices, authoritarianism and fanaticism, it is when one appreciates works like Antonia Darder’s The Student Guide to Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in that she carefully reveals the great relevance of one of the seminal educational texts of all time. And there is no one better to illuminate the greatness and possibilities of Frerie’s ideas than Darder, an intellectual and activist committed to the popular classes and struggles of colonized and oppressed peoples. * Juliet Perumal, Vice Dean of Research and Internationalisation, University of Johannesburg, South Africa *
Impressive, pristine, inspiring, and transformative, Antonia Darder strikes again, with a timeless extraordinary dialogical reading of Freire’s intellectual masterpiece, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In light of the book’s 50th anniversary publication—amid a Western radical fascist turn—leading international Freirean scholar and political activist Darder dissects what should be considered the ‘declaration of independence’ of the oppressed to its most minute theoretical levels. In doing so, she pushes the Freirean debate to a new level, issuing a clarion call against the hegemonic institutionalization of Freire and his powerful legacy. * João Paraskeva, Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA *
Darder’s book is truly an essential guide that chronicles Paulo Frerie’s seminal ideas with veracity, including his gratitude to those who informed his work and daily life. Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, persist as a seminal text in the world today and Darder skillfully weaves his critical message of hope and love, with deep philosophical understanding of Freire’s ideas and a clear sensibility to the needs of both novice and advanced readers of Freire work. * Jurjo Torres-Santomé, Professor of Curriculum Studies, University of A Corunna, Spain *
In this important book, Antonia Darder perceptively provides the reader a further contextualization of Freire’s seminal work, which features a fuller picture into the experiences that shaped his existential lens, the philosophies and thinkers that deeply influenced him, and the soul that illuminated his path to walk his journey living in hope, love, and faith in cultivating the humanization of humanity. Well-research, timely, accessibly written and on the 50th Anniversary of the original release of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Darder’s book can now be considered the official companion to that text moving forward. * James D. Kirylo, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina, USA *
Invaluable to students who find Freire's language and ideas difficult. * Robert Dahlgren, Associate Professor (Chair), SUNY Fredonia, USA *