Reading Paulo Freire

Maocir Gadotti is one of the closest collaborators of Paulo Freire. He has worked together with him for almost 20 years. Recently, he was Chief of Cabinet when Paulo Freire was Secretary of Education of the city of Sao Paulo. At present, he is Professor of Education at the University of Sao Paulo and Director of the Paulo Freire Institute.

"This book deals with one of the most important educators of this century. It presents the work and life of Paulo Freire in a simple, straightforward fashion. By placing the life and work of Freire in the context of the history of ideas, the book introduces the reader to the complexities of Freire's pedagogical and epistemological position. The book is accessible, and will be welcome particularly by those who may have difficulties reading Paulo Freire. It does what it promises: makes Paulo Freire available to a wide readership. Likewise, the book discusses a pedagogical approach that is still evolving and has tremendous vibrancy for contemporary research and teaching. Professor Gadotti has captured this dimension in Freire's work better than many other scholars I have read." — Carlos Alberto Torres, UCLA"The topic is profoundly significant. Educators and intellectuals cannot talk today of literacy and education without reading this piece. The book is important in itself as well as central to educational and literacy studies. This is an important contribution—meaningfully thorough and intellectually stimulating. What I like most about the book is its ability to capture the originality and simultaneous growth in complexity of Paulo Freire's life and work." — Hermán S. García, New Mexico State University

• Foreword: A Land of Contrasts and a Pedagogy of Contradictionby Carlos Alberto Torres Forewordby Peter L. McLaren and Henry A. Giroux Introduction 1. We Can Also Learn in the Shade of the Mangoes A Teenager Who Considered Himself UglyTeaching as a PassionThe Act of StudyingThe Act of Knowing 2. The Method Which Took Paulo Freire into Exile Literacy and ConscientizationThe Stages of the MethodLiteracy of ChildrenBasic Readers and Cultural ReadersThe Methods Nowadays and Its Reinvention 3. Learning from History Historical Factors in the Thinking of Paulo FreireThe Military CoupExile in ChileThe Main Works of the First Phase of ExileAfrican Experience 4. A Pedagogy for Liberation Dialogic PedagogyBanking Education and Problematizing EducationDialogic and Antidialogic TheoryThe Directive Role of the EducatorThe Intellectual and the Popular MassesCultural Action for FreedomChristian Socialism and Utopia 5. Relearning Brazil A New Context, New IdeasWorks on Paulo FreirePaulo Freire Today 6. A Revolutionary Educator Coherence: Theory and PracticeNo Reply is DefinitiveThe Revolutionary Educator: Patiently ImpatientPedagogy of IndignationThe "Last" FreirePaulo Freire as Public Administrator 7. Paulo Freire in the Context of Contemporary Pedagogical Thought Carl Rogers and Student-Centered LearningConfrontation with Ivan IllichJohn Dewey and the New SchoolVygotsky and the Revolutionary Soviet EducatorsThe Complexity and the Universal Dimension of the Work of Paulo FreireCritique, Self-Critique, and Dialectic Conception Conclusion Epilogue: Education at the End of This Century Dialogue with Paulo Freire Notes Bibliography Paulo Freire's Main Works (in Chronological Order)Main Works about Paulo Freire and Other Consulted Works Index