User:Geofferybard/Paulo Freire

At the heart of Friere’s unique view of education lies what he calls critical consciousness or conscientization. This term meaning, “consciousness raising” is about understanding the social and political contradictions of the world and taking action against them in one’s own life. This is developed in his best-known book, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.”

Cultures of silence is a term extending an original concept by Brazilian educator [Paulo Friere] in his book [Pedagogy of the Oppressed].

It has subsequently been explored as a general category by academics and deployed as an operational concept by social workers and victim advocates

According to a brief, but influential School of Education of the University of Miamai, "Freire's most well known work is Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970)... well known for concepts such ... the "Culture of Silence", in which dominated individuals lose the means by which to critically respond to the culture."

According to Freire, the system of dominant social relations create a culture of silence that instills a negative, silenced and suppressed self-image into the oppressed. The learner must develope a critical consciousness in order to recognize that this culture of silence is created to oppress.

Domination and oppression are worked into the traditional educational setup, through which a “culture of silence silence” is formed by eliminating the paths of thought that lead to a “language of critique critique”

According to Chris Payne of Artwork "Speaking the truth... is a step toward healing for all survivors."

As a result of successful experience with the concept cultures of silence have been described pejoratively as markers of apathy, complicity in illicit conduct, including victim complicity and as a contributing factor in creating ignorance of public health information, but some scholars conducting interdisciplinary investigations of silence

contend that in many cultures silence is revered. "Cultures such as Japan, China, Thailand, Swaziland, Ethiopia, and Kenya value silence. Asian cultures associate silence with wisdom and it is used to express power". Moreover, religion has long recognized the virtue of silence in meditation and communal life.

The specific phrase received its definitive scholarly delineation with publication of a book by the same title by Paulo Freire. In Cultures of Silence, he set forth a theory of dialogic communication and the thesis that these cultures provide a matrix in which "dominated individuals lose the means by which to critically respond to the culture that is forced on them by a dominant culture". In other contexts, trade secret and military secrecy protocols protect information from use contrary to the perceived interests of the social group which maintains it. include monastic orders seeking spiritual growth; criminal societies, and institutional cultures of silence as may exist in secular organizations which do not engage in criminal activity and whose existence itself is not secret. Inspired by Freire, Armstrong, writing at the University of Leeds, further investigated the use of the concept with respect to learning environments.

Culture of Silence by Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire's origination of the frame of reference has inspired continuing scholarly inquiry, much of which, as with Brown, is not consistent with Frei's association of silence with moral failing tantamount to collaborationism. Investigating "contradictions around the place and nature of silence in pedagogic spaces", Paul Armstrong focused on "looking at how different 'academic tribes' value the use of silence". Whereas traditionally silence had been emphasized as the prerequisite to learning, he sought to demonstrate that "in other cultures of learning, there is a persistent attempt to break or disturb the silence". This opinion contrasts with that of Brown, above, in that it associates Western cultural with a preference with silence, but the preference is situational insofar as Armstrong notes that "one teacher broadly recognising silence as integral to learning, the other who is disturbed by silence as an absence of learning."

Cultures of silence: subsequent investigators

In a paper presented at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Paul Armstrong investigated "how different 'academic tribes' value the use of silence in learning, and how the ambiguities are experienced in different cultures of learning. " He noted that examination of the concept was essential to giving voice to marginalised communities.

"Culture of Silence": Tom Heaney notes that Friere studies are typically fraught with neo-logisms which can overwhelm those who are new to the field.

He identifies the "culture of silence" as a characteristic "which Freire attributes to oppressed people in colonized countries, with significant parallels in highly developed countries." Accrding to Heahey, Friere isolates the phenomena in the underdogs for whom so much of his works seems to advocate. " Alienated and oppressed people are not heard by the dominant members of their society. The dominant members prescribe the words to be spoken by the oppressed through control of the schools and other institutions, thereby effectively silencing the people."

He is careful to point out however that "silence", according to Friere, is not necessarily in accordance with the dictionary sense of total mute lack of speech. Rather, he states that "this imposed silence does not signify an absence of response, but rather a response which lacks a critical quality."

Further, he discusses the effect of this suppression of speech. "Oppressed people internalize negative images of themselves (images created and imposed by the oppressor) and feel incapable of self-governance. Dialogue and self-government are impossible under such conditions. "

THE CULTURE OF SILENCE

One of the most important concepts of Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed is the "culture of silence The oppressors overwhelm the oppressed with their values and norms, which effectively silences people. In this context Freire uses the concept of "myth". By pressure from those in power, the oppressed have internalised those myths, which we can speak of here as "lies" because they have been purposefully and knowingly imposed upon the people without taking into consideration their reality. The oppressed people feel ignorant and they become dependent on the culture of the oppressors, the so-called "experts", specialists in society. The needs of the oppressed and the knowledge gained from their own "experience" are not regarded as important; they are ignored, devalued and considered as inferior. This concept can be applied, for example, to the oppression of women. Women are still dependent in most cases on male doctors and their specialist opinions about, for instance, the need for an abortion. The women's own view of their needs is being ignored: their feelings are not considered a reality.

Carien Fritze. "THE THEORY OF PAULO FREIRE" (PDF).

Culture of Silence by Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire's origination of the frame of reference has inspired continuing scholarly inquiry, much of which, as with Brown, is not consistent with Frei's association of silence with moral failing tantamount to collaborationism. Investigating "contradictions around the place and nature of silence in pedagogic spaces", Paul Armstrong focused on "looking at how different 'academic tribes' value the use of silence". Whereas traditionally silence had been emphasized as the prerequisite to learning, he sought to demonstrate that "in other cultures of learning, there is a persistent attempt to break or disturb the silence". This opinion contrasts with that of Brown, above, in that it associates Western cultural with a preference with silence, but the preference is situational insofar as Armstrong notes that "one teacher broadly recognising silence as integral to learning, the other who is disturbed by silence as an absence of learning."

Cultures of silence: subsequent investigators

In a paper presented at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Paul Armstrong investigated "how different 'academic tribes' value the use of silence in learning, and how the ambiguities are experienced in different cultures of learning. " He noted that examination of the concept was essential to giving voice to marginalised communities.

"Culture of Silence": Tom Heaney notes that Friere studies are typically fraught with neo-logisms which can overwhelm those who are new to the field.

He identifies the "culture of silence" as a characteristic "which Freire attributes to oppressed people in colonized countries, with significant parallels in highly developed countries." Accrding to Heahey, Friere isolates the phenomena in the underdogs for whom so much of his works seems to advocate. " Alienated and oppressed people are not heard by the dominant members of their society. The dominant members prescribe the words to be spoken by the oppressed through control of the schools and other institutions, thereby effectively silencing the people."

He is careful to point out however that "silence", according to Friere, is not necessarily in accordance with the dictionary sense of total mute lack of speech. Rather, he states that "this imposed silence does not signify an absence of response, but rather a response which lacks a critical quality."

Further, he discusses the effect of this suppression of speech. "Oppressed people internalize negative images of themselves (images created and imposed by the oppressor) and feel incapable of self-governance. Dialogue and self-government are impossible under such conditions. " It seems that a vast cadre of social workers have echoed similar themes, based upon practical field experience.

Ignorance of public health information

Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said, "This culture of silence that prevails in Asia -- good women don't ask about sex, they don't seek to know about sex, they don't ask their husbands or partners about their sexual activities -- puts women at great risk."

Victim reluctance

It has been noted that victims of crime such as rape and domestic abuse frequently manifest reluctance to complain. This "culture of silence" is at times challenged and becomes the topic of heated public discussion when events such as the Duke University lacrosse team rape prosecution break into public view.

See also

Pedagogy of the Oppressed