Paulo Freire
Brazilian educator
Who was Paulo Freire?
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (19 September 1921 – 2 May 1997) was a Brazilian educator and Marxist philosopher whose work has affected global thought on education. A founder of critical pedagogy, Freire’s influence spans literacy movements, liberation theology, postcolonial education, Marxism, and contemporary theories of social justice and learning. Freire was born to a middle-class family in Recife, the State Capital of Pernambuco in the Brazilian Northeast. In 1931, Freire moved with his family to Jaboatão dos Guararapes, located 18 kilometers south of the Historic Center of Recife. His father died on 31 October 1934. Freire was raised Catholic and remained in the faith throughout his life. He became familiar with poverty and hunger from an early age partly due to the effects of the Great Depression.
Historical significance
He is best known for Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in which he reimagines teaching as a political act of liberation rather than critical cultural transmission of values. He is widely regarded as one of the most important educational theorists of the twentieth century, alongside figures such as John Dewey and Maria Montessori.