The Oppressed and Their Oppressors

In Freire’s educational philosophy and pedagogy, there is a larger issue of social justice which is implicit in his humanistic view. In his groundbreaking work, Pedagogy of the Opressed, Paulo Freire unravels the historical roles of the oppressor and the oppressed; furthermore, he conflates the two roles as inherently dehumanizing. For Freire, liberation, humanization, and problem-posing education all contribute to plunging outside of the historical narratives of oppression.

To be sure, Pedagogy of the Opressed investigates the roles of the oppressed and the oppressor. Ontologically, Freire presents that these two roles center around the concept of humanization. While, the frame is achieving humanization, its antimony is the historical dehumanization which countless peoples have faced. (Freire, 1970-1990, p.28)

While the history of oppression is pessimistic, Freire understands the future oppression of the world to be untenable. He poses that “dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed” (Freire, 1970-1990, p. 28).

The antimonial pendulum of oppression defines the oppressed as inhuman while simultaneously dehumanizing the oppressor. This loop of inhumanity is based upon a historical system which is controlled, defined, and regulated by the hegemony; therefore, this hegemony cannot disrupt the loop. Rather, “the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed [is] to liberate themselves and their oppressors” (Freire, 1970-1990 p. 28).

In this “vocation” of humanization, the oppressed write their own authentic redemption—their own critical pedagogy.