Education for Social Transformation

The classroom is an inherently political arena. It may be either a place that reproduces dominant thought and prevailing hierarchies or an area of liberatory praxis where power and exclusionary ideologies can be challenged (Freire, 1970). Radical educators have long acknowledged that liberatory education involves interactive classes in which the learning process is negotiated, one learns by doing, and there is an emphasis on relating personal lives to public issues (Freire, 1970; Shor, 1992; hooks, 1994; Darder, 2002). In these student-centered classes, a power-sharing arrangement enables participants to explore issues and themes of interest to them and to relate academic materials to their lives and worlds (Freire, 1970; Shor, 1996). Ideally, an engaged pedagogy includes a critical analysis of power, domination, and knowledge and an opportunity to devise strategies and engage in activities that foster change (Freire, 1970; Solorzano, 1997). For the past decade, the political climate has been ripe for building an engaged pedagogy that is linked to community struggles. The neoliberal phase of capitalism has ravaged social spending while capital accumulates at an ever-increasing rate. The result has been growing disparities of wealth, accompanied by overt xenophobia, anti-immigrant campaigns, and a general entrenchment of racism in the world's wealthiest countries. At the same time, imperial powers such as the United States have aggressively sought to expand their domination. Grassroots and popular movements throughout the world have challenged these trends. This has resulted in international mobilizations against corporate globalization and most recently has spawned a