One issue which deserves greater treatment in critical pedagogy, in my view, is that of ‘powerful knowledge’ which, though not necessarily popular knowledge and also needs to be problematised, should still be mastered for one not to remain at the margins of political life. Henry Giroux has been particularly influential here. His discussion on the role of intellectuals in this process also infuenced discussions centering around educators as cultural workers in the critical pedagogy field. Gramsci has had a huge impact on critical pedagogy especially because of the importance he attached to the role of culture, in both its highbrow and popular forms, in the process of hegemony which combines rule by force with rule by consent. Can you explain to readers this influence in a few words? In the May 2013 symposium on critical education in Ankara you spoke about Gramsci’s impact on critical pedagogy. Hence the choice of my title which is extracted from Pedagogy of the Oppressed but which also connects with liberation theology where I first saw the term ‘liberating praxis.’ Faith was described as a “liberating praxis” by Leonardo and Clodovis Boff.Ģ. In other words it is a process of reading the WORD and the WORLD. The central concept of his philosophy is that of Praxis which means an education that liberates by means of gaining critical distance from the world one knows to be able to see it in a more critical light with a view to transforming it.

It’s a tall order to discuss Freire’s theories in a few lines. Could you explain Paulo Freire’s idea of education, in a few words?

In your book Liberating Praxis you analytically expose Paulo Freire’s theories. Mayo also discusses the promise of a Freire-inspired Critical pedagogy as an important antidote to the current neoliberal onslaught.ġ. In this interview, Duygu Barut, from the University of Ankara and the Turkish teachers’ union (Egitim Sen) speaks to Maltese academic Peter Mayo, a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and founding co-editor of the journal Postcolonial Directions in Education, about the challenges to education and the teaching profession in this context. Imperialism is not a thing of the past but is ever present with education continuing to play an important role in the process.

Imperialism 2 paul the tall