26th May 2023 – Pedagogy, Dialogue & Democracy
Our May event focused on the need for Latin American educator Paulo Freire’s critical as well as deeply relational and spiritual pedagogy: Freire would have emphasised keeping whole human beings at the heart of the process. In the language of theologian Martin Buber, who so inspired Freire, where I might meet Thou. We examined pedagogy in social and public spaces to enable young people and adults to become informed and critically engaged citizens to keep justice, equity and social democracy alive – a need which has perhaps never been greater.
The contributions to this and other 2023 events follow the theme:
Dialogues for Democracy: Learning Neighbourhoods, Cities and Societies – Building a Dialogical Learning Democracy
The 2023 event series built on our earlier work by combining global with local learning dimensions. Our emphasis was on challenging issues of power and control over education and democratic engagement. We recognise democracy is in crisis. There is a widespread unease pervading communities, politics, economics, and education which is connected to the sustainability of the entire planet.
This event is split into three videos, which can be found below.
Welcome and Background to The Centenary Commission Research Circles
In this introductory presentation, Sharon Clancy and Iain Jones provide a background context to the Research Circle events. These were borne out of the Centenary Commissions report on adult education and a recommendation for fostering community, democracy and dialogue.
Freire’s Pedagogy in Social and Public Spaces to Enable Young People and Adults to Become Engaged Citizens
Linden West in conversation with Colin Kirkwood (Psychoanalytic psychotherapist, counsellor and writer) examined how the work of Freire has inspired initiatives, including in inner-city Edinburgh and Staveley in Derbyshire. Colin is a Scottish academic, community activist, poet, psychotherapist, author and Freirean scholar.
Reclaiming the Relationship Between Education and Democracy, Using Critical Pedagogy.
The second dialogue was between Dr Jo Forster and renowned Freirean scholar Professor Antonia Darder, Loyola Marymount University, USA. Antonia is a Puerto Rican and American scholar. Her activism, teaching, and critical scholarship over the last five decades has consistently focused on racism, political economy, and questions of liberation. She has extended Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of love and contributed to furthering our understanding of inequalities in schools and society. Through her decolonizing scholarship on the body, ethics, racism, methodology, and the arts, she has contributed to rethinking questions of empowerment, pedagogy, and liberation from a worldview that centres on oppressed populations. She focuses on reclaiming the relationship between education and democracy, using critical pedagogy.