The Critique of the Critical Critique of Critical Pedagogy: Freire, Suchodolski and the Materialist Pedagogy of Emancipation

Abstract

The primary purpose of this article is to present the critique of critical pedagogy in analogy to Karl Marxʼs and Friedrich Engelsʼs critique of critical critique and through the materialist theory of education developed by the Polish philosopher of education and Marxist Bogdan Suchodolski, whose work, Fundamental Ideas of a Materialist Theory of Education, was a great source of inspiration for Paulo Freire while writing Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Critical pedagogy has reached an impasse when it has departed from Marxism and started to depreciate the matter of social class and class struggle, which is best reflected by Henry A. Girouxʼs damaging statements about the Marxist theory of education. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that North American critical pedagogy was strongly influenced by Paulo Freire, who was, in return, affected significantly by Bogdan Suchodolski, as Jason Mafra demonstrates convincingly. Thus, the article examines to what extent Marxʼs and Engelʼs idea of dialectical materialism is visible in Freireʼs pedagogy of emancipation. The analysis of materialist theory of education combined with the analysis of Freireʼs concepts from the period of great literacy campaigns in Africa (especially Sao Tome and Principe) reveals a possibility of resolving the impasse of critical pedagogy through a transition to emancipatory thing-centred pedagogy since both the valid critique of ideology and permanent social change have a material form.