Theatre of the Oppressed

Theatre of the Oppressed uses theater as a means of knowledge and transformation of reality in the social and relational field. In the Theater of the Oppressed, the audience becomes active, such that as "spect-actors" they explore, show, analyze and transform the reality in which they are living.

The idea is that through synthesis, reinvention, humor, dance, using our bodies, creating stories, we create change.

Testing as Universal Truth?

What is left unquestioned, or taken as universal, or a necessary in education? How do these notions of necessity form? Who decides what is universal? How can we make change and begin to question things like assessment and testing? Is it in fact necessary to measure learning? How do we go about this in an authentic way?

Performance Art

Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Coco Fusco's "Couple in Cage" performance moves away from essentialist, binary constructions of identity. Rather, it is a "subaltern narrative" that challenges and redefines assumptions about identity formation and specifically the identity of the "other."

McLaren asserts that these "subaltern narratives" are necessary for critical pedagogical practices: "Teachers and students need access to insurgent narratives that challenge phallocentric self-stories that leave out that which is contingent, irrational, or ambiguous. They need a language of narrative refusal that contests the conventional rules of self-fashioning with autobiographical identities encouraged and legitimated within patriarchy" (Critical Pedagogy, 114-115).

Imagination and Critical Pedagogy

In "In Search of a Critical Pedagogy," Maxine Greene writes, "Poets move us to give play to our imaginations, to enlarge the scope of lived experience and reach beyond from our own grounds. Poets do not give us answers; they do not solve the problems of critical pedagogy. They can, however, if we will them to do so, awaken us to reflectiveness, to a recovery of lost landscapes and and lost spontaneities" (98).

The power of performance, creativity, and narratives of multiple perspectives are key elements to a re-imagining of school spaces. The idea seems to be that performance, art, imagination and narratives exist as a means for individuals to become what they want to become without having to abide by binary notions of identity formation that dehumanize and discount. As teachers, we can create opportunities for our students to draw from their own experiences and "say themselves" before someone else does. Peter McLaren talks about critical narratology in this context, or the importance of "reading personal narratives (our own and those of our students) against society's treasured stock of imperial or magisterial narratives..." (McLaren, Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts").

Zizek and Suburbia

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

"...almost always, during the initial state of the struggle, the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors, or 'sub-oppressors.' The very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradictions of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. Their ideal is to be men; but for them, to be men is to be oppressors. This is their model of humanity" - Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (chapter 1)

As teachers in a culture that prioritizes college success as a means for professional success, as a means for financial success, what messages are we sending our students in terms of reaching their full humanity or actual liberation? Are we just cogs in a system that oppresses, even in our worlds of education? How can we educate to actually liberate?

The role of teachers

"Teachers, more often than not, obstruct such learning of subject matters as goes on in school" - Illich, Deschooling Society, p. 49

How can we, as teachers, step out of the way more and let our students guide their own learning? How much should we step in and instruct? What is our role as teachers? To facilitate student-centered learning? To provide information and resources for student inquiry? How can we fit in to an authentic learning experience for our students?

De-schooling society

How could Illich's ideas about de-schooling society work as an online educational exchange?

Some thoughts and questions to ponder this experiment....

• What about this format is or isn't radical?

• What problems does this raise and answer that dominant education may not?

• What is the role of compensation in a forum like this?

• What does it mean to have a fair exchange in this context?

• Where do we go from here? What are the possibilities for growth for this project?

• If you didn’t participate, why? What would have made you participate?

• Does this actually take the "building" out of education, or are we simply regurgitating educative norms?

• What should be offered? Who decides?

• How does one decide what to post? (i.e. do you have to be an expert and who says, where does the desire to teach or learn come in?)

• Is this accessible? Why not open this up to all of our classes? People without internet access? People outside of community?

• Is it just “what I can teach”? Why not also post what I want to learn?

• What about quality? What if someone has a complaint?

• To what extent is this really education? How is teaching Algebra different from going surfing?

• Does this serve as a supplement to compulsory education or is this a “new game”? In other words, could this overtake the current model?

• What about your community matters? Does it affect your offerings? Is there such a thing as an appropriate community to start something like this?

• How does the way you present your post affect the community’s reaction?

• To what extent does this just become a marketplace? Is that a bad thing?

• Does this prevent the uncovering of more complex knowledge?

• Is this ‘de-schooling’ or just ‘free schooling’?

Chocolate Laxative

Zizek claims that since chocolate causes constipation, chocolate flavored laxatives are an example of the "paradox" of American capitalism.

Rumsfeld: "No known unknowns"