Re: friere on friere on

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Tue, 2 Apr 1996 23:13:04 -0500

I have heard Friere once, and once the rapture faded slightly,
asked the questions raised here -- why so monologic? (but
he DOESN'T impose his view, he performs his viewing). Some
folks (like myself) attempt, when presenting, to explicitly
invite other voices to chime in. Should we expect Freire to do so
too or why shouldn't Freire expect those who know his work to
take "language and their history into their own hands..."

- Judy

>
>Actually, I saw something different at play at Freire's lecture. He
>looked to be, in part, a victim of what Walker Percy called the
>Jonas Salk Complex. (Percy once suggested to Salk that, if he
>(Salk) wished to get any work done, he should change his name
>because otherwise, he could never get past being *Jonas Salk*).
>
>Here's Freire, talking to an audience, who ostensibly knows him
>and his work (or at least him through his work) well enough to know
>that it is okay and expected to interrupt his talk, or at least
>ask questions during the provided pauses, but who seem to be awed
>or cowed by his presence - so he goes on and on.
>
>On the one hand, he is Paolo Freire, known proponent of people
>taking their language and their history into their own hands, and
>making their lives thereby, and on the other hand, he is *Paolo
>Freire* famous person, ivory-tower thinker, unapproachable
>celebrity.
>
>What a delicious irony.
>
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Judy Diamondstone
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University

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