Smith to Cohost Symposium on Paulo Freire's
Controversial Literacy Education Method

On Thursday and Friday, Oct. 26 and 27, Smith College will cohost "Beyond Paulo Freire: Furthering the Spirituality Dialogue in Education," a Five College symposium that will bring together scholars and practitioners of Paulo Freire's popular education pedagogy from Latin America, India, Canada and the United States.

The event is free and open to the public.

The symposium, which has been organized by Frédérique Apffel-Marglin, professor of anthropology, and Phyllis Robinson of the Office of the Chancellor at UMass, will assess the impact of Freire's method, along with its shortcomings, and will discuss progressive alternatives. It also will continue the dialogue begun in June at the UMass conference "Integrating Spirituality in Higher Education."
Most graduate schools of international education consider Freire to be their main theoretical inspiration. However, in the past decade, criticism of this method of adult literacy with a political agenda has been mounting, especially in Latin America and India.

The first part of the symposium will take place from 7:30 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 26 in the Neilson Library Browsing Room. That evening's panel, "Gender Perspectives," will be chaired by Apffel-Marglin. Featured speakers are Lourdes Arguelles from the Graduate School of Education in Clairemont, California; Loyda Sanchez, director of CAIPACHA, an organization dedicated to Andean/Amazonian cultural affirmation and mental decolonization in Cochabamba, Bolivia; and Robinson, who, along with helping UMass further a vision of an integrative university, has worked in Cambodian refugee camps and earned a doctorate from the Center for International Education at UMass.

The second part of the symposium will be held at UMass on Oct. 27. Presented by the Center for International Education, the day's theme will be "Beyond Paulo Freire: Furthering the Spirituality Dialogue." A morning panel, titled "Reframing the Secular and the Rational," will take place from 9 a.m. to noon in the Procopio Room, 105 Hills Center. Then another panel will discuss "Literacy in Oral Cultures" from 1 to 3:30 p.m., also in the Procopio Room. A plenary session, chaired by David Evans, director of the Center for International Education, with participation by all the symposium speakers, will convene from 3:30 to 5:45 p.m., followed by a reception.

The Paulo Freire symposium is an activity of the Five College Discussion Group on "New Ways of Knowing and Contemplative Practice," which was convened by Apffel-Marglin and Professor Arthur Zajonc of the Amherst College physics department.

Contact: Marti Hobbes, mhobbes@smith.edu

October 16, 2000