Paulo Freire: The Comparative Educationist (or Not)

Abstract

This chapter is a response to the article by Straubhaar (2015), ‘The stark reality of the “White Saviour” complex and the need for critical consciousness: a document analysis of the early journals of a Freirean educator’. Taking up a theme developed by Noah and Eckstein (1988) in relation to dependency theory, the paper argues that a Freirean analysis is an inadequate framework for the analysis of international development and intercultural exchanges. The central argument is that, by imposing a simplistic dichotomy of oppressors and oppressed, Freirean theory blinds the researcher to the nuanced interplay and complex power relationships that are involved in even apparently simple interactions. Most importantly, a Freirean analysis focuses attention on who makes a statement, rather than on what that statement is a statement about and whether it is true or not. This argument is developed through a reanalysis of some events Straubhaar documents in his account of his fieldwork.

Citation

Turner, D.A. (2016), "Paulo Freire: The Comparative Educationist (or Not)", Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2016 (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 30), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 165-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920160000030013