This history of popular education looks at one of the most successful social movements to use popular education, the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) in Brazil. It highlights the importance of popular education to the "new" social movements based around identity, such as women's and indigenous organizations
Education and Social Change in Latin America is a valuable addition to the area studies literature in Comparative Education. Torres knits contributions from recognized North and South American experts to produce a comprehensive tapestry of analyses of both formal and non-formal education in Latin America. The book constitutes an excellent example of the application of a broad social science perspective to the study of education, viewed as a constituent sub-system. The foci of non-formal education (Part I), political socialisation (Part II), and the impact of social change upon education in Brazil (Part III) facilitates a broad range of comparisons. A balance between the often-contradictory perspectives-economic, anthropological, sociological and political-provides the reader with a comprehensive “snapshot” of trends and developments in Latin American education during the crucial 1980s. This inter-disciplinary examination of aspects of Latin American education has a broad range of applications, ranging from introductory courses to senior seminars to a valuable research tool. What would otherwise be an exceptional book is rendered even more valuable by Torres’ conversation with Paulo Freire. While Torres is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on Freire, this chapter explores Freire as a human being, an educator, and introduces some of the contradictions faced by a world renowned adult educator who assumed the mantle of an administrator in the formal education system in his native Brazil between 1989 and 1991.
This book examines the multiple relationships between education, pedagogy, and social change in Latin America and beyond through a discussion of critical theory in education and its uses in Latin American society today. An international group of contributors discuss both individual countries and the region as a whole.
This book examines the multiple relationships between education, pedagogy, and social change in Latin America and beyond through a discussion of critical theory in education and its uses in Latin American society today. An international group of contributors discuss both individual countries and the region as a whole.
This book synthesizes and analyzes the complex map of educational reforms in Latin America in the first two decades of the 21st century. The book offers insights into the agendas, processes and political economy of educational reforms in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Written by renowned contributors from each country, chapters present systematic, critical and reflective accounts of an intense period of education reforms. The book fills a gap in educational research and provides a systematic study that compares the cases analyzed. The first broad, comparative collection of its kind, the book is well-suited to courses in international and comparative education policy.
This book offers a systematic study of media education in Latin America. As spending on technological infrastructure in the region increases exponentially for educational purposes, and with national curriculums beginning to implement media related skills, this book makes a timely contribution to new debates surrounding the significance of media literacy as a citizen’s right. Taking both a topical and country-based approach, authors from across Latin America present a comprehensive perspective of the region and address issues such as the political and social contexts in which media education is based, the current state of educational policies with respect to media, organizations and experiences that promote media education.
Popular education played a vital role in the twelve-year guerrilla war against the Salvadoran government. Fighting to Learn is a study of its pedagogy and politics. Hammond interviewed more than 100 Salvadoran students and teachers. He recounts their experiences in their own words, vividly conveying how they coped with the hardships of war and organized civilian communities politically to support a guerrilla insurgency. Fighting to Learn tells how poorly educated peasants overcame their sense of inferiority to discover that they could teach each other and work together in a common struggle. It offers both a detailed account of the practice of popular education and a broad theoretical discussion of the relationship between education, community organizing, and the political process.
This groundbreaking volume describes unprecedented changes in education across Latin America, resulting from the endorsement of Indigenous peoples' rights through the development of intercultural bilingual education. The chapters evaluate the ways in which cultural and language differences are being used to create national policies that affirm the presence of Indigenous peoples and their cultures within Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala. Describing the collaboration between grassroots movements and transnational networks, the authors analyze how social change is taking place at the local and regional levels, and they present case studies that illuminate the expansion of intercultural bilingual education. This book is both a call to action for researchers, teachers, policy-makers and Indigenous leaders, and a primer for practitioners seeking to provide better learning opportunities for a diverse student body.
Examining the roles, impacts and challenges of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Latin America, this volume provides a broad perspective on the range of strategies these organizations employ and the obstacles they face in advocating for and delivering educational reform. Building on previous research on international and comparative education, development studies, research on social movements and nongovernmental organizations, chapter authors provides new insights about the increasing presence of CSOs in education and offer case studies demonstrating how these organizations‘ missions have evolved over time in Latin America.
How social movements of the past and present are shaping Latin American politics today These are uncertain times in Latin America. Popular faith in democracy has been shaken; traditional political parties and institutions are stagnating, and there is a growing right-wing extremism overtaking some governments. Yet, in recent years, autonomous social movements have multiplied and thrived. This book presents voices of these movement protagonists themselves, as they describe the major issues, conflicts, and campaigns for social justice in Latin America today. Latin America Bureau, a London-based, independent organization providing news and analysis on the region, spoke to people from fourteen countries, from Mexico to the Southern Cone. The book captures the voices indigenous activists, fighting oil drilling in their homelands; mothers from favelas seeking justice for their children killed by police; opponents of large-scale mining projects; independent journalists working, at great personal risk, to expose corruption and human rights violations; women and LGBT people confronting violence and discrimination; and students demanding their right to a free, universal and high-quality education system. Though their locations and causes are disparate, these people and their movements share learning and activism, and their cooperation helps to link the movements across national borders. Voices of Latin America is essential reading for students, travelers, journalists—anyone with an interest in social justice movements in Latin America.