POSSIBILITIES FOR NEW BEGINNINGS:
OPPRESSION, SOCIAL AGENCY, AND EDUCATION
by
Rula Kahil
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts Department of Theory and Policy Studies in Education University of Toronto
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Masters of Arts, 2008 Rula Kahil Department of Theory and Policy Studies in Education University of Toronto
Abstract
This thesis investigates the philosophical justification for teachers as social agents given especially conditions of oppression and despair. This investigation tak,es place through discussing Paulo Freire's work on oppression and liberatory education, and Maxine
Greene's work on imagination and social agency. When applied to the context of the thesis, Limitations of both works are pointed out and a common ground of both is suggested. An alternative of some of Freire's and Greene's work moved by Lugones' position, "in between either or" is offered, and a rationale is given on its significance in resisting hierarchies of domination and subjugation asserted through denying one's multiplicity. Implications of such positions and perceptions on the educational realm and on teachers' work as social agents are discussed. Suggestions for work at the university, school, and community levels are made. Limitations and suggestions for further work on topics elicited by the thesis work are presented.
II ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
This thesis is a result of the love, encouragement, and care of many people. Without their presence in my life, this accomplishment would not have been possible. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation to few of them.
I first thank my loving husband for all the support and belief he has in me. I thank him for going beyond the conventional and allowing me to be! I also thank my children, Loulwa and Nour, for being so patient, mature, and supportive of my absence.
I thank my parents for supporting my journey and taking pride and involvement while I am away from home, from my family, and from them.
I want to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Professor John
Portelli, for his excellent academic guidance and support of all my work and ideas. Thank you for understanding, encouraging, and always challenging me to go beyond what I start with. I also want to thank Professor Mark Evans, whose gentle remarks and positive feed back anchored my thinking and encouraged me. Thank you for your gentleness and care.
I thank my former principal and friend, Geri Branch, for helping me realize that "things could be otherwise" and for pushing me to "new possibilities."
I thank all my friends, the old and the new, for all the love I was surrounded with during my movement between different worlds! I specifically thank my dear colleague Sara
Khoury for taking on a huge job revising and editing my work. Thanks for all your love and dedication.
iii To Dad
The first educator liberator in my life, whose words, actions, and dedication
to education became part of who I am.
To Geri Branch An educator liberator of the twenty first century, whose love, humility, and belief in each individual is an inspiration to me.
To Loulwa and Nour, my children
May you encounter some of those educator liberators in your life time.
IV Contents
Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Chapter One: Introduction, Background, and Context 1 Introduction and background 1 Section one 2 The Context of the Topic 2 Historical background of education in Lebanon 4 Aspects of Neoliberalism 8 Lebanon and the impact of Neoliberalism 9 Personal narratives 11 Research question 15 Significance of the study 16 Theoretical framework and overview of chapters 17 Chapter Two: Oppression, New Beginning, and Imagination 20 Section one: 21 Definition of some Key Concepts 21 The rationale behind choosing the work of Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene 22 Paulo Freire's work 22 Maxine Greene's work 24 Section Two: 26 On Oppression and Paulo Freire's work 26 The Importance of the Context of the Leader and Involvement in Reality 26 Oppression as an Act of Dehumanization 27 The Relationship of the Oppressed and Oppressors 28 The fear of freedom 28 The Role of education 29 Praxis as an Educational and Self- Realization Tool 30 Banking and Libratory Education 31 The Libratory system of Education and Awareness 32 The Relationship between the Liberator Teacher/Social agent and the learner 33 The Problem-Posing method in the Libratory system of Education 34 Characteristics of the Problem-Posing Educator 35 The Significance of Dialogue 35 Section three: 36 Maxine Greene; Background and Influence on Education 36 Self-reflection and wide-awakening 38 Interrogation and Anxiety 39 The Educational Realm and the Role of the Teacher 39 The Liberator Educator/Social agent 40 The Role of Imagination in Learning 41 Taking Risks; Imagination and Empathy 42 Literature and imagination 43 Metaphor in literature 44
v Imagination and the Liberator Social Agent Teacher 45 The Tasks of the Social Agent Teacher 46 The Process of Teaching for Social Agency and Liberation 46 Agency as a Social Endeavour and a Need for Space and Place 47 Chapter Three: Freire and Greene: Limitations, Common Ground and a Move from Either / Or to "In Between Either/Or" 50 Section one: Limitations and Common Ground in Freire's and Greene's Work 51 Limitations perceived in Freire's work 51 Awareness of the reality of oppression 52 The sharp distinction between the oppressed and the oppressor 52 Differences in Oppression 53 Oppression in Neoliberalism 55 Limitations Perceived in Greene's Work 56 A Special Emphasis on the Importance of Literature 57 Accessibility of literature in multiple of contexts 57 Teachers and awareness of literature 59 A Common Ground for Freire's and Greene's Work 60 Section Two: 62 Either/Or, or "In the Middle of Either/Or" 62 Fellows and Razzack's perception of the Outsider and Insider 64 Historical Account on the Hierarchies of Domination 65 The race to innocence 66 A Reversed Perspective of Outsider/Insider, the Oppressed and the Oppressor 67 The permeability of the two notions; the outsider and the insider 68 Purity/ impurity and plurality 70 Two acts of separation 70 Mestizaje as curdling and multiplicity 72 Multiplicity and Imagination 73 A personal account on fragmentation and multiplicity 75 Chapter Four: Education and possibilities 77 Section one: 77 Education and situated knowledges 77 Educational attempts and connection to institutions 78 Educational Institutions and the Teachers Within 79 Arrogant Perceptions and Teaching 81 The impact of the Educational/Political System and Institutions 83 Section two: 84 Suggestions for work at the University level 84 Suggestion for Work at the School level 87 Creating Contexts for Connection 87 Teachers' and Students' Dialogue and Narratives 87 Reflection and problem- posing 89 Examples on reflection and taking perspectives 90 Work at the community level 91 Section Three: 93 Reflections and conclusions 93
vi Final Thoughts 96 References 98
VII Possibilities For New Beginnings
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction, Background, and Context
Introduction and background
What if we discover that our present way
of life is irreconcilable with our vocation
to become folly human?
(Paulo Freire as cited in Wheatley, 2002, p. 63)
Many are the discussions, forums, and books written on issues related to social justice, social agency, oppression and responsibility in education. Many of the issues discussed are considered to be a human endeavour and responsibility that some politicians, philosophers, and educators regard as their mission to make a difference in life. However, real work and discovering our vocation as being fully human, is rooted in one's immediate context and lived experiences. How can one be aware of the lack of and need for social agency, the presence of and impact of oppression if one's life experiences are not irreconcilable with such realities? Cole & Knowles (2001) assert the importance of lived experiences in one's context:
Lives are never lived in complete isolation from social contexts. Even those who
choose to live as hermits or recluses do so for reasons that are bound to be context
related. Actions that place the individual beyond the borders of society or social order
are likely to be connected to experiences of family and community or to
understandings of society and of the human and natural environments. Such actions
are likely to be the result of very particular interpretations of context. To be a human
being is to have connections with others and the collective societal influence and
1 Possibilities For New Beginnings 2
institutions, be they historical, political, economic, educational, religious or even
environmental...To be human is to experience the relational" (p. 22).
This chapter identifies the context and background of the topic and is divided into three sections. Section one includes a summary of the historical events that have impacted the educational sector in Lebanon. Section two briefly discusses aspects of neoliberalism that had an impact on the Lebanese economical and educational realms. Section three includes personal narratives in the field of education. It makes a connection to the ideas in sections one and two, which leads to the development of the basic question underpinning my thesis.
Section one
The Context of the Topic
The topic of my thesis and the issues it raises on oppression, social agency, and responsibility is a result of personal narratives that are expressions of connections at the individual and collective level. These connections allowed me, as an educator, to realize the impact of political and social realities on education and educators' attitudes. Maxine
Greene (1995) highlights the importance of looking at our experiences. She writes:
I find the very effort to shape the materials of lived experiences into narratives to be a
source of meaning making. It is because we are reflecting back when we tell our
stories, that we may be able to recapture the nascent logos -our mind just before it
emerged from the perceived and the vivid (p. 75).
Moreover, Greene (1995) cites Charles Taylor (1989) on the importance of narratives where he asserts that we must "inescapably understand our lives in narrative form, as a quest" (p.51). Possibilities For New Beginnings 3
In looking at one's experiences in narrative form and considering them a quest, one becomes reflective on one's own reality and social injustices and hence can never look back and see context in the same way. This is when personal transformation happens and one becomes what Greene calls a homecomer. In her words:
A homecomer notices details and patterns in her environment she never saw before...
now looking through new eyes, one cannot take the cultural pattern for granted.... to
make it meaningful again, she must interpret and reorder what one sees in the light of
one's changed experience....when thinking- as- usual becomes unattainable for
anyone, the individual is bound to experience a crisis of consciousness (Greene, 1973,
p. 268).
Although the ideas presented in this thesis have their beginnings in one specific context (the Lebanese context) and are a reflection of personal narratives included in chapter one, they are not limited to it.
This thesis is a result of personal narratives and reflection of what I call home.11 am a homecomer to my country, Lebanon, where I have spent most of my life. I witnessed the turmoil of wars and political instability that impacted every aspect of life there. For many years, exercised injustices and lack of social agency in the country were not at the level of critical awareness and did not present a crisis of consciousness to me. These realities were taken for granted, "predefined or objectively there..." which made me and many others
"uncritical, submissive, and submerged" (Greene, 1995, p. 17).
'Although I believe home is not limited to one geographical space and location but can be looked at both figuratively and literally, in this specific part of the thesis, the narratives taken from my geographical home, i.e. my home country, Lebanon, is where reflection started and caused the need for self transformation. Possibilities For New Beginnings 4
The most recent war2 was the catalyst for my sudden awakening to social injustices and, as a result of this, a feeling of lack of agency and responsibility emerged. The amount of anxiety, pain, and anguish that surfaced urged me to reassess, rethink, relook, and try to find home again, literally and figuratively. This search became an eye opener to issues related to oppression and social agency which is the essence of this thesis.
Although I will make a move from the personal narratives to collective global realities that play a role in oppression, my focus will be related to the educational realm.
To put things in context, I will present a summary of the historical background of the educational system in Lebanon and the changes that took place during the last decade.
Historical Background of Education in Lebanon
This background will show the impact of and dominance of privatization of education in this part of the world and its connection to oppression and social agency. It will, as well, make the connection between the educational and the political realms clearer.
In her article "Transformation of education: will it lead to integration?" Shams Inati
(1999) wonders if the disintegration of the Lebanese communities/sects is one of the
2Lebanon went through a long civil war that we call the first war. This civil war started in 1975 and ended in
1990. A big number of the Lebanese people left the country during that time and many young people pursued their higher education in universities abroad. While many did not return and started their own future life abroad, few others returned in the hope for a better future. After 10 years of living abroad, my husband, our two young children, and I returned to Lebanon for a "new beginning" and to be close to our families.
However, many of our hopes ended with the beginning of a new political conflict that resulted in the assassination of the ex-prime minister, Rafic Hariri, who was one of the most prominent investors in the country. After his assassination, many more assassination took place and political struggles amongst different parties/sects started. All of that was followed by the Israeli invasion in the summer of 2006. Possibilities For New Beginnings 5 causes of the 1975 civil war. She points out that some of the blame is thrown on the educational system and the privatization of schools to different sects.
Privatization of education in Lebanon started during the Ottoman rule in 1535 when many sects were given the right to have their own private schools. Beliefs, identities and materials taught in those schools were contradictory to those taught by other religious sects. For examples, Sultan Sulayman (r. 1520-1566) allowed the French community in
Lebanon the right to have its own schools and then other Christian communities received the same right. In the 19th century many missionaries arrived in Lebanon and brought their schools with them. The American University of Beirut was established by the
Presbyterians in 1866 under the name Syrian Protestant College and the French Jesuits established Saint Joseph University in 1887. Both universities remain very prominent and influential in the 21st century. In 1888 the local Sunnis founded al-Maqasid. The Shi'ites opened their schools in 1910 (Inati, 1999).
The Constitution of the First Republic in 1926 confirmed these rights, and they were preserved when the educational system was revised in 1968. To Inati:
It would seem that the blame for the disintegration of Lebanese society must not be
placed on these rights in themselves, but in part on the fact that these communities did
not have the foresight and sense of responsibility to prevent their schools from
plunging the country into the disintegration and destruction it witnessed. In their
schools, these communities misused education and taught materials that were
essentially different, if not contradictory. This was the case especially in the fields of
history and language, the two areas that could either bring people together or distance
them from each other (p. 57). Possibilities For New Beginnings 6
Inati goes on to give examples of schools that stress that the Lebanese are Arabs and
must be proud of their Arabic language while other schools stress that the Lebanese are
non-Arabs, and so perhaps a language like French is more befitting to their linkage to the
West and to their special "non-Arab" status in the region. With time, the gaps among these
communities (whether religious or secular, native or foreign) became wider especially
when they worked on strengthening their private schools and the curricula in those
schools. This widened gap was somehow responsible for what looks like the total
disintegration of Lebanese society, thus the tragedy of 1975 (p. 57).
The government played a role and had some responsibility in the disintegration as
well. The government did not supervise the private schools and, did not begin establishing
public schools to counterbalance the teachings of the private ones until later. For example,
the Lebanese State University was opened in 1951, almost 100 years after the American
University of Beirut had been established. Moreover, public schools remained much
weaker than the private ones and hosted students from financially poor sectors (p. 58).
When the civil war ended in 1990, the government decided to transform the educational
system to avoid what was considered as the "shortcomings of the previous system." Their
intention was to meet the requirements set in the fifth term3 of the Ta'if Accord4 in an
attempt to "bring the Lebanese together and create integration in Lebanese society" (Inati,
3 The term states that the curriculum must be reconsidered and developed in ways that promote national belonging al-intima' and integration al-insihar, spiritual and cultural openness, and unity of textbooks in history and civics.
4 The Ta'if accord is an agreement that was negotiated in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia in September 1989 and ended the civil war in Lebanon. The agreement was approved by the Lebanese parliament on 4 November 1989. Possibilities For New Beginnings 7
1999, p. 60). The new curricula were fully elaborated in 1997 in the Curricula for public education and their objectives.
While according to Paulo Freire, education must begin in critical dialogue, the new curriculum with its lack of subjects that require critical thinking and logic was, and still is, far from providing young students with skills that help them in critical dialogue. Inati asserts that although one of the reasons offered by the government for the new system is its criticism of the absence of such reasoning under the old system, critical and analytical thinking is not encouraged. Some of the subjects known for promoting reasoning and critical thinking, such as analytical philosophy and logic, are missing from the curriculum.
There are other factors that contribute to the deficiency of the educational system in the public sector; however, it is beyond the purpose of this thesis to go through them. This overview of the historical background is presented to later make a connection between the historical, and social responsibility.
Nauffal (2004) asserts that throughout the history of the country starting from the
Ottoman rule to the British and French mandates,
The peoples of the region have been the subjects of various forms of oppression.
With independence nothing has changed much. There is simply a new group of
oppressors exercising power over their subordinates to assert their control. This
explains to some degree the tight control over implementation that characterises the
management cultures of these institutions" (Nauffal, 2004, p. 253).
The secularization of the institutions and their cultural origins, whether Lebanese,
Arab or Western, have an impact on institutional culture, and is all manifested in a
"distinctive personalised mode of management that emphasises control, power and Possibilities For New Beginnings 8 loyalty, which are deep seated cultural traits of the people of Lebanon and the region"
(Nauffal, 2004, p. 4). Hence the above mentioned factors and reform in education did not seem to alter the reality of oppression in the country, on the contrary it emphasized control, lack of democratic decision making, and an increased sense of loyalty to secular belonging vs. national belonging.
Aspects of Neoliberalism
After the civil war, many of the Arab and Lebanese investors living abroad came back to the country bringing along their exposure to the free market and readiness to open to the global community through attracting international investors. As a result, the worldwide neoliberal impact started to have its toll on the country. Bronwyn and Peter (2007) mention that, "the advent of neoliberalism extends to those capitalist countries participating in the global economy, and its impacts are more widely geographically dispersed through the activities of such groups as the World Bank and the IMF" (Davies
& Bansel, 2007, p. 247). At that time in Lebanon, many international companies and organizations opened among them the World Bank and IMF were presented.
A general characteristic of neoliberalism is "the desire to intensify and expand the market, by increasing the number, frequency, repeatability, and formalisation of transactions" (Treanor, 2005). Generally and with the strong focus on the importance of the new market and profit, neoliberals tend to believe that humans exist for the market, and not the other way around. In personal ethics, the general neoliberal vision is that every human being is an entrepreneur managing their own life, and should act as such. In this kind of ethics,
human beings compare their actions to the way an ideal type would act - in this case Possibilities For New Beginnings 9
the ideal entrepreneur. Individuals who choose their friends, hobbies, sports, and
partners, to maximise their status with future employers, are ethically neoliberal...The
idea of employability is characteristically neoliberal. It means that neoliberals see it as
a moral duty of human beings, to arrange their lives to maximise their advantage on the
labour market. Paying for plastic surgery to improve employability (almost entirely by
women) is a typical neoliberal phenomenon (Treanor, 2005).
Changes that occur as a result of Neoliberalism are not, only, related to the economical sector but the social and educational sectors, as every aspect gets influenced.
Michael Crossly reminds us "It is now increasingly difficult to understand education in any context without reference to the global forces that influence policy and practice" (as cited in Apple, 2001, p. 409)
Lebanon and the impact of Neoliberalism
After the civil war and in the last ten years that preceded the 2006 war and invasion of
Lebanon, the country developed at a very fast pace starting to open up to the possibilities of the international free market and the global community. When international companies and firms reopened or opened, the demand for professional young people became high, and the competiveness in the market place5 increased tremendously. As mentioned before, the new educational reform did not provide the young generation that stayed in Lebanon with skills and competencies compatible with the fast changes that the country was experiencing. However, many Lebanese returned to Lebanon with skills and competencies
5 By market place, I am referring to all kinds of jobs that require exposure to the international community and had to do with the ability to catch up with what is happening all over the world. Whether it was banking, economics, media, or education, Lebanon was trying to catch up with the 15 years of wasted time that got the country in a stagnant state. Possibilities For New Beginnings 10
acquired abroad to take advantage of the new flux of jobs. Employability was high,
especially in the field of finance and media.
As a result of this attempt to catch up with the international neoliberal movement, the
educational sector changed as well. New trends and development in the educational field
took place. International programs like the International Baccalaureate were introduced
and followed by many institutions and educational organizations, high levels of
professional development opportunities were provided, and teachers' training was
generally improved. The privatization of schooling became more prominent, and certain
schools in the country targeted specific communities. Many private schools' tuition fees
were very high and only families with high economic status could afford enrolling their
children. While new private schools competed over cliental by providing specialized
curricula and programs (International baccalaureate (IB), French baccalaureate, Character
education, Special education, Montessori system, etc.), the public system stayed stagnant
and did not improve in any direction6.
All of the above mentioned reasons further created a bigger gap between the private
and the public schools and increased competition amongst the private schools.
Therefore, and in spite of the fast economic development of the country after the war, the
openness to the global community, the schools' openness and adoption of the latest
educational strategies and programs, the behaviours and attitudes expressed by the
younger generation of students after the last war were similar to those expressed by the
6 Due to the fact that the public system is almost free of charge and the government did not allocate lots of money for the educational sector after the war, teachers' salaries stayed very low. Moreover, and due to the
lack of funds in this sector, many of the teachers did not get any formal training on the new (curriculum) or
any form of professional development. Possibilities For New Beginnings - 11 seventies civil war generation, if not worse. By this I mean; the lack of social cohesion and collective responsibility, and the lack of a shift from a factional individualistic gaze to a collective national one. Many groups of young people nowadays resort to aggression and conflict trying to "toehold on respectability"7 while others resort to an attitude of negligence and carelessness, a characteristic of the privileged/dominant groups. Hence, and in addition to the social and physical manifestations8 of the last two wars, there exist new realities of excessive individualism, narrow totalitarianism, and intense competition.
This situation creates a lack of willingness and ability to focus on a collective and democratic vision and seems to create negative fatalism, despair, and oppression. This has become part of the dominant hegemony and many do not even realize it.
Personal Narratives
My experiences in teaching, the staff development work I was involved in, and my own children's stories gave me the chance to look closely at what goes on in schools. I realized that many of the classroom practices and discussions reflect the impact of the dominant hegemony. The narratives mentioned below are not inclusive as there are other narratives that take different directions. I chose narratives mentioned below as they relate to the focus of the thesis on oppression, social agency, and responsibility.
7 Refer to Fellows and Razzack article "The race to innocence", 1998."Toehold on respectability" is when subordinated groups hold on to their position of subordination because they feel it is the only way to win respect for their claim of subordination.
8 By the social I am referring to the geographical division of areas/neighbourhoods between sects. People of the same sects live next to each other and have their schools in the same area. By the physical I mean the destroyed infra-structure like, bridges, buildings, lack of electricity supply etc... Possibilities For New Beginnings 12
One of my childhood experiences comes from my middle school years when I
discovered my ability to write on issues that require critical thinking. My first piece was
on an issue in the community that had to do with a lack of justice and equity9. At that
time, the teacher did not trust that the writing was my own and accused me of having
someone else write it for me. He believed that people my age were not capable of writing
on such issues. This discouraged me from writing for a long period of time afterwards.
Other narratives come from one of my children's middle school experiences. Both my
children go to a private school which is known for its good academic results. Students in
their school represent part of the community that is impacted by the neoliberal culture of
individualism, consumerism, and competition. There were many times during my
daughter's middle school years (fifteen years of age now) where she was faced with
feelings of unease with her peers' expression of this culture of consumerism. Examples
would be; bragging about who carries the best cellular phone, the most updated iPods,
who is dressed in the most expensive clothes, or whose parents have the best models of
cars etc... Although nowadays she is more at ease with those groups of people, she
attributes the way her peers behave to a need for "conformity"10.
91 belong to the generation of students that was educated through the old system which encourages rote
learning and memorization of facts without a focus on issues and topics that require critical thinking. At that
time teachers' words were as those of saints and the dominant hegemony was that of power and authority.
This is still the case in many of the schools nowadays.
10 This is the generation that is impacted by neoliberal values. Although this generation of students belongs to an international non-religious school, many of the students are exposed to the neoliberal world of consumerism, individualism and competition due to their parents' roles, financial status and ability to access the materialistic temptations of this culture. Possibilities For New Beginnings 13
Narratives from my immediate teaching experience are many and vary between experiences with teachers, students, and parents. Although the school I used to work in is an international school based on an American system, it is in a Lebanese community with mostly Lebanese clientele. The end of the school year is a time for making class lists and dividing students between sections with different teachers. During that time, many parents approach the homeroom teacher to ask for a preference they have for the next academic year. Although, and according to the school's policy, parents can only request a preference based on either academic or emotional reasons and only through the school's principal, they do not hesitate approaching the teacher for other reasons. Many times I was approached by parents and asked to place their child with specific children or teacher because they belong to the same sect.
During my work at school, I made a personal effort to work on, read and know about programs related to issues on peace education, social justice, social skills etc...My work in this field gave me the chance to participate and become part of an international association on values education. Part of the work done was participating in a UNESCO conference outside the country. I was asked by some of my colleagues at school to present some of their students' work that represents the need for peace in the Middle East. The work presented created anger and resentment to some of the Arab attendants there. Upon coming back to Lebanon, I was threatened and asked not to bring up such sensitive topics any more as I will be promoting "political agendas."11
11 This is where the educational and political go hand in hand. The conference was purely educational and yet my presentation of the students' work on "Peace" was considered by some a political attempt. This is when I started realizing that most of the time the political and educational go hand in hand and impact each other whether intentionally or not. Possibilities For New Beginnings 14
Moreover, in many classrooms, and particularly after the second war and invasion, discussions on issues related to social justice and responsibility became either biased and reflected a certain point of view or not encouraged and contested. Many teachers found it difficult to approach such topics or encourage discussions because of the sensitivity and the misinterpretation that might take place.
Although the secularization and privatization of schools had an impact on the disintegration of the young people of the country, this disintegration is not only manifested in the educational realm but in the social/political life. Lebanon is geographically divided into areas that belong to different sects and there are very few areas where different sects live together. The Parliament itself reflects the country's secular divisions. Parliament members represent this political secularization and acquire their legislative and execution powers from their secular parties.
In addition to all of the above factors, the impact of the neoliberal culture and its ethics of consumerism, individualism, and competition shape the thinking of the young generation. In a country where the integrity and rights of individuals are not sustained and secured by the government, young people find other ways to survive. While a big number of them are immersed in the secular/political belonging which conflict with the national belonging, other groups of young people moved away from politics and secular conflict and are immersed in competition and money making in the market place and hence consumed by individualism and profit making believing it to be the only security for their future. One example of this culture is the plastic surgery phenomena that became part of the dominant hegemony. People of different age groups go through it for various reasons.
Many jobs in the country ask and provide plastic surgery for their employees while others Possibilities For New Beginnings 15 go for it as an act of "conformity." People are judged by the way they look and appearances are what matters.
The combination of secularization and privatization of education and neoliberalism, with the values it brings along, have an impact on the people's attitudes and behaviours; attitudes and behaviours that reflect the hegemony of power struggle, consumerism, individualism, and strong secularization. For many educators that are consumed by the above mentioned hegemony, the situation creates a sense of despair. Some of them resort to resentment while others take the chance to emphasize their political agendas.
Consequently, silence and indifference take place along with the attitude that it is not their responsibility; it is either the system's, political leaders', parents', or schools'. The individual educator becomes concerned about personal safety, and decent living. This situation reflects a movement away from what Dewey (1960) calls "the capacity to surpass the given and look at things as if they could be otherwise" (as cited in Greene, 1988, p. 3).
Research Question
With all the above mentioned factors that allow a sense of despair to surge through the lives of educators and advocates of social justice, one cannot but wonder and search for the possibilities of the presence of individuals who can surpass such political and social situations and work for transformation in the educational field. In any current situation and in any community, there exist those individuals that are transformative educators or what Giroux and McLaren (1986) call "Transformative Intellectuals." They write:
Here we extend the traditional use of the intellectual as someone who is able to
analyse various interests and contradictions within society to someone capable of Possibilities For New Beginnings 16
articulating emancipatory possibilities, and working towards their realization. Teachers
who assume the role of transformative intellectuals treat students as critical agents,
question how knowledge is produced and distributed, utilise dialogue, and make
knowledge meaningful, critical, and ultimately emancipatory (as cited in Hills 2003).
In places similar to Lebanon, the political situation can provide enriching learning experiences for critical reflection and emancipation. Giroux (1988) emphasizes the interrelationship between the political and the pedagogical:
Central to the category of transformative intellectual is the necessity of making the
pedagogical more political and the political more pedagogical. Within this perspective,
critical reflection and action become part of a fundamental social project to help
students develop a deep and abiding faith in the struggle to overcome economic,
political and social injustices, and to further humanise themselves as part of this
struggle (as cited in Hills, 2003).
Since I believe in the educators' ability to be a transformative intellectual, break out of the cycle of oppression, impact others and make some change, my key research question becomes: What is the philosophical justification of the teacher as social agent especially given the conditions of despair, oppression, and silence?
Significance of the Study
This thesis will contribute to the educational context in many ways. Based on the personal examples that will be provided along with the philosophical arguments that I will develop throughout my writing, the thesis will help bring awareness to the importance of personal reflections and reassessment of lives taken for granted. Through highlighting the importance of self reflection, educators will question the value of their lives under the Possibilities For New Beginnings 17 dominant hegemonies and have a sense of where they stand within the educational/political context. This will open possibilities for change and agency.
Although discussions of issues that relate to oppression and responsibility might seem to some as a difficult endeavour, especially for the oppressed who tend to think that they can't do things differently, the positions taken in this thesis might help willing educators to see that things can "be otherwise." Other than teachers as educators, my hope is that sharing this thesis with administrators and policy makers will bring forth some awareness of the struggles that educators go through and hence initiate conversations and attempts for new policies and reformation in education be it at the school or national level. The work and reformation I am referring to is a kind that raises awareness in relation to social justice, agency, and responsibility as a collective endeavour and not only an individual one.
Although some educators may argue for their choice to live a life that reflects neoliberal values, highlighting issues such as, oppression, social agency, and participatory education, may promote conversations that challenge the status quo. My hope is to raise a level of awareness where education becomes a means to improve human connections and social change. Making philosophical justifications for teaching as social agency will empower educators and initiate discussions that can create a positive vision for change.
Theoretical Framework and Overview of Chapters
Discussions in this thesis focus on philosophical arguments and examine how the sense of despair and indifference is antithetical to the educators' sense of social agency and liberation in education. It argues the need for a move from the position of despair and/or acceptance of the status quo to a position of teaching as social agency. Possibilities For New Beginnings 18
Chapter two looks at how the philosophical justification of teachers as social agents takes place. This is explored by taking some aspects of Paulo Freire's and Maxine
Greene's work as they relate to the concept of education and teaching as social agency.
This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section clarifies what I mean by oppression, liberation, transformation, and teacher as liberator educator in the context of the thesis. In addition, this section provides the rationale behind choosing the works of
Freire and Greene as the basis for my argument. Section two covers some aspects of
Freire's work that relate to the context of the thesis. Some of the work discussed relates to
Freire's notion of the reflective libratory education, banking education vs. reflective education, the role of the educator as liberator, his interpretation of the complexity of the role of the oppressed and oppressor and their interchangeability, and his notion of praxis in education. Section three covers aspects of Greene's work that relate to the context of my thesis. It discusses Greene's work on imagination and the role it plays in cognition and liberation. It also includes Greene's notion of self-reflection and "awakening", an awakening that helps educators assume responsibility and agency.
Chapter three constitutes my argument for the need of a philosophical framework that allows the move from indifference and despair into agency and participation in education.
This chapter comprises two sections. Section one highlights some contextual limitations perceived in both Freire's and Greene's work12 along with a proposition of a philosophical common ground that combines elements from both. In section two I propose adding Maria
1 The contextual limitations stem from the difficulties I perceive when trying to conceptually employ
Freire's or Greene's educational philosophical perspectives and suggestions in other contexts (educational or geographical), one of which is the Lebanese context referred to in chapter one. More on this is discussed in the chapter. Possibilities For New Beginnings 19
Lugones' position of "in the middle of either/or" to Freire's and Greene's common ground. I argue that the addition of this position, "in the middle of either/or" strengthens the justification of teachers' as social agents as it helps unpack perceptions of marginalization and situationality that hinder liberatory teaching. I argue that we inhabit multiple positions at different times and space and hence cannot escape impacting the worlds of others.
Chapter four constitutes discussions taken from Maureen Ford's work on "situated knowledges" and "arrogant perceptions" in education. Ford's work highlights the importance of personal knowledge and involvement in a situation and the negative impact taking extreme positions either/or has on education. This chapter also constitutes practical suggestions and concluding remarks for this thesis. This chapter comprises three sections.
The first section, investigates the significance of situated knowledges in the educational realm, the impact the sharp distinction, either/or, has on teachers' and students, and the effect of arrogant perceptions on students' and teachers' lives. Section two of this chapter includes brief suggestions on what teaching for social agency might look like where emphasis on the importance of dialogue, reflection, and problem-posing is highlighted.
Section three shows limitations the proposals in this thesis might encounter. This section, also, holds suggestions for future investigation on topics brought to attention as a result of this work. Possibilities For New Beginnings
Chapter Two
Oppression, New Beginnings, and Imagination
Being in the world does mean being with the world. Our being is
being with. So, to be in the world without making history, without
being made by it, without any opinion with the world, without ideas
on education, without being political, is a total impossibility.
(Freire, 1998, p.58)
This chapter presents philosophical justification of teachers as social agents. The
analysis utilizes some aspects of Paulo Freire's and Maxine Greene's work on education
and teaching as social agency. This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section
clarifies what is meant by oppression, liberation, transformation, and teacher as social
agent or liberator educator13.This section will, as well, provide the rationale behind
choosing the works of Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene as the basis for my argument.
Section two covers some aspects of Freire's work that relate to the context of my thesis.
Some of the work discussed relates to Freire's interpretation of the complexity of the role
of the oppressed and oppressor and their interchangeability, his notion of praxis in
education, banking education vs. reflective education, and the role of the educator as a liberator. Section three covers aspects of Greene's work that relate to the context of my thesis. It discusses Greene's work on imagination and the role it plays in cognition and liberation. It also includes Greene's notion of self reflection through imagination and the
13 The two terms, 'teacher as social agent' and 'liberator educator', will be used interchangeably throughout the thesis to represent educators whose work for liberation surpasses the difficult situations of oppression either at the political or the educational levels.
20 Possibilities For New Beginnings 21
"Awakening" that takes place. An awakening that helps educators assume responsibility and agency. However, it is important to mention that some new themes from Freire's and
Greene's work emerged during the development of the thesis and were utilized in support of the philosophical justifications of teachers as social agents.
Section One
Definition of some Key Concepts
The concepts referred to in this thesis are broad and can be interpreted differently in different contexts. A brief explanation of these concepts is presented within the context of the thesis. Some of the basic concepts repetitively mentioned are; oppression, liberation, transformation, and liberator teacher/social agent.
To Freire, oppression is the act of dehumanization and "the distortion of the vocation of becoming fully human" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 44). In the context of this thesis, oppression is the inability of educators/ people to take decisions (either at the individual or social levels), freely express their opinions, or simply ask and demand their basic rights.
By this I mean, the right to safety, the right to belong to the whole community14, and the right to live at the basic economic level.
By liberation, I mean first and most of all, the liberation of mind and thought; "the capacity to surpass the given and look at things as if they could be otherwise" (Dewey,
1960, as cited in Greene, 1988, p. 3). Moreover and within the context of the thesis, liberation is the ability to realize it is one's right to voice his/her informed opinion in a highly political context without fear.
14 By the whole community I refer to the diversity that exists in any community. I refer to a diversity that is either related to ethnicity, religious belonging, or political preferences. Possibilities For New Beginnings 22
By transformation, I refer to different kinds of transformation; some of which take place at the individual level (self-transformation) and others that take place at the collective level( schools and community). However, my initial emphasis is on self- transformation as it is a pre-requisite to the ability of working with the community, whether it is the school or immediate community. This transformation is a process and a very important one as it brings forth the realization that, as humans we are always in the process of the making.
By the liberator teacher, I refer to the teacher who is a social agent: an educator that goes beyond the limitation set by the existing hegemonies, and is capable of freeing himself and others too; an educator that adopts a loving caring gaze, and is in a continuous process of learning.
The Rationale behind Choosing the Work of Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene
Choosing Paulo Freire's and Maxine Greene's work is based on the way their educational philosophical perspectives are rooted in reform and optimism. Both Freire's and Greene's optimism stems from a belief in the capacity of humans to overcome difficulties in situations where people tend to fall into desperation and denial. I will, briefly, focus on how the work of each is significant to my thesis topic.
Paulo Freire's work. One of the unique features that Paulo Freire's work and ideas on education present is the way they encompass the specific location they originated from.
Freire's ideas originated at a time when his country, Brazil, was going through poverty and political alienation due to the United States economic crisis in 1929. Because of the lack of interest and enthusiasm this situation produced, Freire and his family experienced poverty and he fell behind for some time in school. Influenced by all of the above Possibilities For New Beginnings 23 mentioned factors, Freire became a thinker whose "thought represents the response of a creative mind and sensitive conscience to the misery and suffering of the marginalized oppressed around him" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 10). Although as a result of the military coup in 1964, Freire was imprisoned and later exiled; he did not desert his dedication to liberate human beings through liberatory education. Freire travelled around the world holding "the Utopian dream that has to do with a society that is less unjust, less cruel, more democratic, less discriminatory, less racist, less sexist" (p. 115), and all this through literacy which is not only a skill or job preparation, but as "critical literacy" that enables us to "read the world" and transform it.
Freire's ideas, though rooted in a specific geographical context, identify thoughts of many educators and present practices that, until now, occur in a number of places around the world one of which is Lebanon15. The impact of different occupations on Lebanon and the privatization of education and schooling, along with the residues of the Lebanese civil war, impacted the educational and political systems. Many secular/political parties nowadays still exist, while new ones are being created. The current economical situation impacts the life of many families and individuals; the rich are becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. All of the above mentioned realities create situations of oppression and the feelings of inability to surpass the immediate situation. Freire's book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970/2007) has many similarities to the situation created in Lebanon and to the educational practices experienced and expressed by many educators and
15 Although I keep on coming back and forth to the Lebanese context, my intention is not to limit my argument to this context but because of my familiarity with it, I take it as an example of similar educational practices that occur in many places in the world. Possibilities For New Beginnings 24 researchers16 there. Freire's explicit reference to the ways political and individual oppression hinders the educational and personal reform resonates with the ways political/secular parties' domination shape the Lebanese educational system, some of which are mentioned in Inati's article cited in chapter one. Another reason for choosing
Freire's work is his analysis of the relationship and interplay between the oppressor and the oppressed. The hierarchical and paternalistic system that characterizes the relationships of political/secular leaders in Lebanon is identical to his notion of the oppressed or oppressor relationship.
Moreover, Freire's work is an eye opener to the practices and impact of political hegemony on the educational system. Connecting his work to the topic of this thesis will bring forth awareness and hope to educators situated in places with highly political and oppressive conditions.
Maxine Greene's work. Maxine Greene's work and thinking is profoundly situated in the importance of living in awareness. Her notion of "wide awakening" as a way to enhance social justice is important to people who give up hope. As a philosopher educator, her work is targeted to educators and teacher educators to whom the discussions in this thesis are addressed. Her emphasis on the impact of imagination on personal and educational reform brings hope to teachers who, similar to the Lebanese situation, live in despair and denial. Greene's work on surpassing existing realities, moving beyond the
For another look at the research done on the educational system in Lebanon, read chapter one of the thesis and the work done by Inati (1999) and Nauffal (2004). For extra reading on the impact of the war on the educational and political system in Lebanon read Maroun Kissirwani's work. Possibilities For New Beginnings 25 obvious, and looking at things "as if they could be otherwise" brings hope to educators and enhances the faith in their ability to move beyond the obvious.
One of the most important components in Greene's work is her emphasis on the importance of literature in bringing forth awareness and self- transformation. This emphasis is what moves education from what Freire calls "banking level" to the
"problem- posing" level17. Through emphasizing the interpretations that literature provides, Greene believes that teachers' critical learning will take place. In addition to literature, Greene encourages teachers to pay attention to the personal inspiration and learning that takes place through music and art. To her, the arts initiate the power to imagine and to realize possibilities and new beginnings. To Greene, "art is a pathway to dreams" and "in dreams begin responsibilities" (Baum, 2003, % 4).
Moreover, Greene's interest and work with education and teachers' education resonates with the field that is targeted in this thesis. This thesis addresses educators as well as education, and presents a plea and hope for transformation. This transformation if not for the immediate time, it will be for the future, a future where education is upheld by the present teacher educators.
In places like Lebanon where, at times, realities seem too harsh and desperation is dominant, who is to look at things differently other than the educator? Where would reform start if not at the grass root level where students in schools are, and where is a better place than schools to start dreaming of reform and work on achieving it? For all of
7 More will be discussed on the meaning of both terms. Briefly, the banking system is the one that emphasizes acceptance of what is taught as a status quo while the problem-posing system emphasizes critical thinking enhanced through dialogue. Possibilities For New Beginnings 26 the above, Greene's impact and work is essential to the suggestions made in this thesis especially on surpassing and moving beyond the obvious and the immediate.
Section Two
On Oppression and Paulo Freire 's Work
One of the basic themes of this thesis and the focus of the main question emerge from realities of oppression that impact the educational context. However, it is important to mention, once again, that the educational is strongly connected to the political. Therefore, discussing theories written on the impact of the political realm on people and the complexity of human relationships within such contexts will highlight the consequences of these relationships on education and will make a connection to the thesis question on social agency more comprehensive. It is, however, impossible to understand and philosophically justify teachers' roles as social agents under the conditions of oppression without discussing what oppression means, and how it impacts/liberates others within its context. Discussions on Paulo Freire's work on oppression, liberation, connection of oppressors and oppressed, and the impact of oppression on education represent an insightful start to the topic and question of the thesis.
The Importance of the Context of the Leader and Involvement in Reality
Freire's work on the realities of oppression and lack of humanization in the educational and political realms stem from real life experiences which makes his work authentic. To him, understanding realities in one's context makes it easier to see things from a critical perspective. In his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970/2007), Freire poses two important questions: "Who are better prepared than the oppressed to understand the terrible significance of an oppressive society? Who suffer the effects of oppression Possibilities For New Beginnings 27 more than the oppressed? (p. 45). Therefore, a leader in a community whether a politician or an educator, is one who is from, with, and lived the circumstances and frustrations of the people. These are the leaders whose "own involvement in reality; within an historical situation, led them to criticize this situation and to wish to change it" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 67)
Oppression as an Act of Dehumanization
Oppression is a reality that ought to and can be changed. In places where the political situation along with its impact on the educational realm strips people of the right to voice their opinions and act as fully human, the existing reality is one of "dehumanization" and
"a distortion of the vocation of becoming fully human" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 44). Freire cautions us of considering dehumanization as a historical vocation as this consideration can either lead to cynicism or total despair (p. 44). In addition, considering dehumanization as a historical reality decreases the urgency and necessity to struggle and search for one's humanity. To Freire, "the struggle for humanization ... is possible only because dehumanization... is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed" (p. 44).
Although one might think of dehumanization as an act inflicted on the oppressed by the oppressor, Freire asserts that the oppressor dehumanizes himself too, "as the oppressors dehumanize others and violate their rights, they themselves also become dehumanized"
(p. 56). To Freire, the responsibility of regaining humanity is in the hands of the oppressed. Not only the oppressed regain their own humanity but that of the oppressors as well. As the oppressed fight for their humanity they "take away the oppressors' power to dominate and suppress, they restore to the oppressors the humanity they had lost in the Possibilities For New Beginnings 28 exercise of oppression" (p. 56). The oppressed are powerful and "only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both" (p. 44).
The Relationship of the Oppressed and Oppressors
Liberation as a task for the oppressed is not an easy one. Its difficulty arises from the complexity and interrelatedness of the relationship between the oppressed and oppressors.
In living the reality of oppression for a long time, the oppressed embody some of the characteristics of the oppressor. At the beginning of the liberation process, the oppressed cannot easily separate themselves from the nature of the oppressors; in trying to overcome oppression and move away from it, the oppressed become the oppressors themselves or what Freire calls "sub-oppressors." This is because they internalized the nature of the oppressors and in spite of the fact that "their ideal is to be men; ...for them, to be men is to be oppressors... their perception of themselves as oppressed is impaired by their submersion in the reality of oppression" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 45). On the complexity and interrelatedness of this relationship he writes:
Their vision of the new man or woman is individualistic; because of their identification
with the oppressor they have no consciousness of themselves as persons or as members
of an oppressed class... during the initial stage of their struggle, the oppressed find in
the oppressor their model of "manhood" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 46).
The fear of freedom. The inability of the oppressed to identify themselves with the oppressor is related to the impact of the fear of freedom on this identification, a fear that
"afflicts the oppressed, a fear which may equally well lead them to desire the role of oppressor or bind them to the role of oppressed" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 47). This fear originates from the requirements that freedom entails as it "would require them to eject Possibilities For New Beginnings 29 this image [of oppressor] and replace it with autonomy and responsibility. Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift [and]... must be pursued constantly and responsibly" (p.
47). Freire goes on to assert that it is not easy to get out of this duality and become new men and women. It is a duality that requires the ability to surpass one self and act in the realm of consciousness. He writes:
The oppressed suffer from the duality which has established itself in their innermost
being. They discover that without freedom they cannot exist authentically. Yet,
although they desire authentic existence, they fear it... This is the tragic dilemma of the
oppressed which their education must take into account (p. 48).
Therefore, facing realities of oppression is a painful process yet a necessary one as it leads to liberation. To Freire:
Liberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one. The man or woman who emerges is a
new person....[They]...perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from
which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform" (Freire,
1970/2007, p. 49).
The Role of Education
To Freire, only through education, which is not necessarily limited to schooling, people realize and learn about the reality of their oppression. Although the process is painful, it is an essential one. It is a process characterized by the educators' ability to identify themselves as subjects in the educational context. An Identification that bell hooks encourages and calls for; "oppressed people resist by identifying themselves as subjects, by defining their reality, shaping their own identity, naming their history, telling their story" (as cited in Maureen Ford, 2007, p. 314). This process of telling one's story, Possibilities For New Beginnings 30 reflecting on one's own situation, defining one's reality, and identifying one's presence as subject occurs through "praxis". To Freire praxis is "reflection and action upon the world to be able to transform it" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 51).
Praxis as an Educational and Self- Realization Tool
Praxis takes place through education and is the tool through which the educator liberator/ the social agent become, similar to his students, a subject in the learning process.
In addition to the reflection that takes place through the teaching-learning process, the educator's self reflection is important too. This is an important characteristic of the rebellious teacher, the liberator educator and social agent who is, in Greene's words, a
"reflective practitioner, a teacher in search of his or her own freedom may be the only kind of teacher who can arouse young persons to go in search of their own" (Greene, 1988, p.
14). These are the educators that are existent and persistent in many of the educational contexts that face oppression or the need for change. They are the educators whose self- reflection initiates the possibility of what Freire refers to as our "presence" in the world.
To him this presence is "far more than just 'being'. It is a 'presence,' a 'presence' that is relational to the world and to others" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 25). Freire goes on to assert,
"insofar as I am a conscious presence in the world; I cannot hope to escape my ethical responsibility for my action in the world" (p. 26). The liberator educator's realization and reflection on his/her presence in the world and the responsibility it entails is what initiates action. This is what characterizes the teacher as liberator, as a social agent, acting in the only way possible to move out of the cycle of oppression. All of this takes place within the context of education. To Freire, there is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Possibilities For New Beginnings 31
Education either functions as an instrument to lead the young generation to adapt to the present social and political situation or becomes a "practice of freedom."
Banking and Libratory Education
The two functions of education, either an instrument to adapt to the present social and political situation or as a practice of freedom, are what Freire calls "Banking education" and "Libratory education."
In the banking concept of education, learners are deposited with pre-selected, ready- made knowledge. Teachers who know everything about the world, view the student as ignorant, as an object whose mind is an empty container that must be filled with socially approved knowledge. Teachers in this system are introduced as opposite to students. It is a system that does not encourage any dialogue but emphasizes the teacher's side of the learning relationship. This results in a one-way communication which reinforces alienation, domination, and oppression. In Freire's words:
The educator's role is to regulate the way the world "enters into" the students...The
theory and practice of banking education serves this end quite efficiently. Verbal
lessons and instructions, reading requirements, the methods for evaluating knowledge,
the distance between the teacher and the taught, the criteria for promotion: everything
in this ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking (Freire, 1970/2007, p.76).
In the banking system of education, a person is "merely in the world, not with the world or with others" (p. 75) as the teacher teaches fragmented subjects not placed in the historical context of reality. A reality that serves the dominant hegemony of the oppressors, making the historical events and the world seem static and unchangeable. Possibilities For New Beginnings 32
Whether teachers in the banking system realize it or not, they are serving the dominant hegemony and are responsible for asserting and reinforcing realities of oppression. Within their own ignorance and lack of and fear of reflection, they embody the characteristic of the oppressors. A teacher who embodies such characteristics "presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence" (p. 72).
The Libratory system of Education and Awareness
Practiced in many schools around the world, the banking system serves the existing hegemony and asserts political and educational domination. However, praxis (reflection and action on the world) and the existence of reflective revolutionary educators suggest another kind of system in education, a system called by Freire "the libratory system." It is a system that allows the oppressed to realize and see; the reality of oppression, the oppressor with his/her own vulnerabilities and not only as a role model, and the defects in the teaching model at school or in the ways the teachers are depositing knowledge in a banking model. The most important part of the process is awareness. Freire writes:
The oppressed must see examples of the vulnerability of the oppressor so that a
contrary conviction can begin to grow within them... As long as the oppressed remain
unaware of the causes of their condition, they fatalistically "accept" their
exploitation.... In working towards liberation, one must neither lose sight of this
passivity nor overlook the moment of awakening (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 64).
This awakening can only take place when praxis is the main practice and when reflection upon situationality constitutes the urgency for living. In Freire's words this situation creates; Possibilities For New Beginnings 33
critical thinking by means of which people discover each other to be "in a situation."
Only as this situation ceases to present itself as a dense, enveloping reality or a
tormenting blind alley, and they can come to perceive it as an objective-problematic
situation — only then can commitment exist (p. 113).
When people "emerge" from their "submersion" and "intervene" in reality, historical awareness takes place and results in what Freire calls "conscientizacao." To him, conscientizacao is the deepening of the attitude of awareness characteristic of all emergence" (p. 113). However, the conviction of the oppressed that they must fight for their liberation is not a gift from the revolutionary leader; it is a result of their own
"conscientizacao" (p. 67).
Through conscientizacao that results in the liberation from the reality of oppression, the liberator teacher is always in the process of the making and learning. A kind of learning characterized by the element of surprise that stems from critically understanding the world. Freire affirms that "a good teacher is the teacher who in being, or becoming
"permanently" competent, is "permanently" aware of surprise and never stops being surprised (Freire & Horton, 1990, p. 66).
The Relationship between the Liberator Teacher/Social agent and the Learner
The liberator teacher/social agent needs to start at the level of the people with their perception of their reality and each other. Freire & Horton (1990) assert that "one of the tasks of the educator is to provoke the discovering of need for knowing and never to impose the knowledge whose need was not yet perceived (p. 66). The liberator teacher is a partner in the education process, a teacher who is concerned with being always
"cognitive" in the teaching process using dialogical methods to enhance critical thinking Possibilities For New Beginnings 34 and reflection on the world and the reality of the students. In this process of learning the old paternalistic teacher student relationship ceases and is replaced by another one where they are both learners. Freire (1970/2007) asserts that "the teacher is no longer merely the- one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow" (p. 80). In this kind of learning, teacher and students "teach each other, mediated by the world, by the cognizable objects which in banking education are "owned by the teacher" (p. 80).
The Problem-Posing method in the Libratory System of Education
Teaching takes place through the methods of problem-posing, reflecting issues related to the world of the students and the teacher's own world as well. "The students — no longer docile listeners — are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher.
The teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and re-considers her earlier considerations as the students express their own" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 81). In this method, students are not considered as an object and are involved in forming knowledge and discussing subjects related to themselves, they are challenged to participate in the world as it is related to them and not a theoretical concept. Hence problem- posing education engages the learner in a "constant unveiling of reality" (p. 81).
Consequently, when students are posed with problems that are related to themselves and the world around them, they get challenged and this challenge initiates the connection with other problems within their context and their comprehension becomes more critical and less alienating. This challenge creates other challenges, "followed by new Possibilities For New Beginnings 35 understanding, and gradually the students come to regard themselves as committed" (p.
81).
This kind of education is a practice of freedom and not domination as people/students
"develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality but as a reality in process, in transformation"(p. 83). Most essentially, "problem-posing education affirms men and women as beings in the process of becoming — as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality" (p. 85).
Characteristics of the Problem-Posing Educator
But who is the problem-posing educator, the liberator/social agent who is capable of getting out of the cycle of oppression, who considers himself a subject with his fellow students and is always in the process of becoming? To Freire, this educator is one that can never serve the interest of the oppressors because he/she starts with and encourages others to start with the "why." Such an educator needs to be "revolutionary — that is to say dialogical — from the outset" (p. 86). Being a dialogical educator is being connected to the word and the word is associated with -both- action and reflection. When action takes place without reflection, it is an activism, and when reflection takes place without action, it is verbalism. Other than the leader's ability to combine both action and reflection, profound love for the world and people, humility, hope, and faith in human kind are essential characteristics as they initiates dialogue.
The Significance of Dialogue
Dialogue cannot exist without critical reflection, "thinking which perceives reality a process, as transformation, rather than a static entity-thinking which does not separate Possibilities For New Beginnings 36 itself from action" (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 92). Through dialogue the leader educator and social agent will create the means for communication that enhance liberation in education.
It is this kind of liberatory education where the teacher-student "first asks herself or himself what she or he will dialogue with the student about" (p. 93). For such a dialogical problem-posing teacher-student, the content of such a program is based on organized, systematized, and developed "re-presentation" to the self and individuals of the things about which they want to know more (p. 93). Despite the fact that through dialogue the liberator educator plays the role of facilitator, he/she has the right to intervene and not act as mere facilitator. A liberator educator and social agent is an intellectual who, sometimes, needs to take the role of leading and speaking. However, this kind of "teacher has the duty to come from speaking to into speaking with" (Freire & Horton, 1990, p. 180). He/she needs to "make it possible for the students to become themselves" (p. 181).
Finally, this liberator educator is not a super hero who is born as a liberator. This revolutionary educator is one that is from the people and with the people. He/she is a liberator that went through and still is in the process of "wide-awakening."18
Section Three
Maxine Greene; Background and Influence on Education
Maxine Greene's work in education is related to her long history as a female educator and revolutionary thinker at a time when the intellectual academic world was dominated by white male scholars. In 1962 she became the first woman philosopher at the Teachers'
18 Wide awakening is a term referred to by Maxine Greene and represents the process/characteristic which a person and in this case the liberator/social agent educator goes through and embodies. It is an awakening to possibilities and to the realization that reality, in this case oppression, is not static and unchangeable, it is always in the process of changing and becoming. Possibilities For New Beginnings 37
College at Columbia University, and in spite of the difficulties she faced being the first female in the academic world, she persisted on sharing and communicating her vision on education. Moreover, as a mother, Greene faced a world hostile to women who wanted a family and a profession. Now, in her nineties, Greene is a pre-eminent intellectual acknowledged internationally as an original thinker in the educational field and professor emeriti of philosophy and education at Columbia University where she taught for more than 40 years. In one of her interviews she shared, "my story is the story of many women's lives. It is a story of how one woman makes meaning of her life in spite of the personal tragedies and social obstacles that all of us struggle to overcome" (As cited in Hancock,
2008).
Greene's personal life and her ability to subside prejudice related to her gender, race, and status as a mother, constitute the basic themes of her work. Her work stems from the belief in peoples' ability to overcome and surpass their immediate reality and see things differently. To Greene, self-reflection on one's current situationality is what moves a person to the state of "wide-awakening." To her, if you are not aware of the reality of oppression and "submerged in the crowd, and have no opportunity to think for yourself, to look through your own eyes, life is dull and flat and boring" (as cited in Cruickshank,
2008). The only way to awaken to life, to possibilities, is through self- reflection on one's life through one's own eyes. She asserts that, "without the ability to think about yourself, to reflect on your life, there's really no awareness, no consciousness" (As cited in
Cruickshank, 2008). Possibilities For New Beginnings 38
Self-Reflection and Wide-Awakening
Wide-awakening is contextual and based on our experiences and personal stories. In reflecting on life stories and events, a person becomes a "homecomer."19 Greene's suggestion of a self reflective, homecoming process brings forth an emphasis on context, belonging, and remembrance. She writes:
a reflective grasp of our life stories and of our ongoing quests, that reaches beyond
where we have been, depends on our ability to remember things past. It is against the
backdrop of those remembered things and the funded meanings to which they give rise,
that we grasp and understand what is now going on around us" (Greene, 1995, p. 20).
Understanding, grasping, and looking for different meanings through self-reflection, allow changes in experiences, contribute to a crisis of one's consciousness and to a refusal to "think- as- usual"20 about one's everyday reality. Refusing to think as usual, allows looking at the world we inhabit "inquiringly" and "wonderingly" and gets us "provoked beyond oneself in one's "intersubjective" space (Greene, 1973, p. 12). However, the kind of self reflection referred to here is not the kind that pulls individuals towards self absorption but one that can only occur through relating oneself to others in the community. Greene confirms, "the narrative I have encountered in my journey had made it
19 A definition of the meaning of "homecomer" was given in the introduction part of the thesis, p. 5.
20 "Thinking as usual" is referred to when a person does not see any changes in the patterns of his/her society and follows trends of thinking expected from all the people in his community based on the dominant hegemony's thinking. To Hanna Ardent (1961), refusing to think as usual initiates action with a new sense of beginning. It allows one to step into space where nothing is entirely predictable. It is to take the vantage point where you can't see things as predominant/determined Possibilities For New Beginnings 39 possible for me to conceive patterns of being as my life among others has expanded: To look at other's eyes more than I would have and to imagine being something more than I have come to be" (Greene, 1995, p. 86).
Interrogation and anxiety. Self reflection, looking at other's eyes and reflecting on one's own situationality, bring forth the necessity of interrogation as a tool to achieve these goals. To Greene, "if there is to be a beginning out of weariness-and consequently active learning initiated by those choosing to learn- there has to be an interrogation. There has to be a why...the capacity to imagine what is not yet" (Greene, 1995, p. 24). The
"why" makes the connection to new possibilities and to the sense of new beginning.
Asking "why" brings to consciousness facts about lived reality. Some of the facts revealed through interrogation initiate feelings of anxiety. Similar to Freire's reference and connection of anxiety to responsibility, Greene asserts,
The "why" may take the form of anxiety, the strange and the wordless anxiety that
occurs when individuals feel they are not acting on their freedom, not realizing
possibility, not elevating their lives. Or the why may accompany a sudden perception
of the insufficiencies in ordinary life, of inequities and injustices in the world, of
oppression and brutality and control (Greene, 1978, p. 43).
The Educational Realm and the Role of the Teacher
As an educator and, specifically, as a teacher educator, Greene believes in the important role the educational realm plays in providing youngsters with the possibilities for reflection and thinking in terms of new beginning. To her:
It is through education that individuals can be provoked to reach beyond themselves...
It is through and by means of education that they may become empowered to think Possibilities For New Beginnings 40
about what they are doing...to share meanings to make sense of their lived worlds. It is
through education that...intelligences developed, perspectives opened, possibilities is
closed (Greene, 1988, p. 12).
The role of the teacher as a learner and facilitator in the educational process is essential. It is through education that, teachers get the chance to reach beyond themselves and provoke their students to make sense of their worlds. They are the teachers who are willing to take the role of social agents. Self reflection is one of the most important human endeavours that the social agent teacher needs and is willing to embark on. It creates the capability of realizing possibilities and communicating this realization with the students.
Therefore, for those educators who want to be critical teachers, it is essential that they stay in touch with their lived worlds, understandings, and perceptual landscapes. To Greene, this can only happen when you stay present to the self, to one's history. To Marleau-Ponty
(1967), "consciousness itself arises ...in the realization that T am able,' meaning the realization that one can reach beyond what is immediate" (As cited in Greene, 1978, p.
103). Trying and realizing that it is possible to reach beyond the immediate gives educators hope and allows them to surpass the defined, closed realities that oppression creates.
The Liberator Educator/Social agent
To Greene, the liberator educator/social agent is one that "sees things and [students] big" (Greene, 1995, p. 10). This educator does not see people as objects but realize them in their integrity and particularities instead. He/she is an educator capable of assuming one's participation and responsibility in what is happening. This is a teacher who is concerned with "details and with particularities that cannot be reduced to statistics or even Possibilities For New Beginnings 41 to the measurable" (p. 10). Teachers seeing things large, view every act as a "new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate...they are the eager teachers who provoke learners "to pose their own questions, to teach themselves, to go at their pace, to name their worlds"
(Greene, 1995, p. 11). A question comes to mind here: What brings forth the capability of educator liberator to reach beyond the immediacy of realities of oppression and lack of possibilities into a realm of hope and beginning? To Greene, in order for the liberator educator to "see things big" and understand the world of others, he/she needs to imagine.
The Role of Imagination in Learning
Maxine Greene believes that the role of imagination in education is essential. With the absence of imagination there is no hope, possibilities for beginnings, interrogations, or even empathy. On the reasons for Greene's concentration on imagination as a mean through which one can assemble a coherent world, she writes:
Imagination is what, above all, makes empathy possible. It is what enables us to cross
the empty spaces between ourselves and those we teachers called "others" over the
years....Of all our cognitive capabilities, imagination is the one that permits us to give
credence to alternative realities. It allows us to break with the taken for granted, to set
aside familiar distinctions and definitions (Greene, 1995, p. 3).
At a social level she asserts that imagination is "the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in our deficient society, in the street where we live, in our schools" (p. 5). As teaching is an encounter with other human beings who are trying to learn to learn, imagination is very essential and a requirement for teachers as it opens spaces for them to become "fully human." This takes place through the strong influence Possibilities For New Beginnings imagination has on accepting additional realities in relation to the variety of human lives, the multiplicity of their faith, and ways of believing.
Taking Risks; Imagination and Empathy
However, Greene realizes that to come to terms with such additional realities always involves rislp. Taking risks is what moves people from the realm of oppression into realizing factors and realities that contribute to it. Greene realizes, however, that at times, the inability of many individuals/teachers and parents to take such risks is what asserts oppression and domination. Such individuals are either too comfortable in the obvious and predictable and do not realize other possibilities or are too weary of the responsibility that imagination brings to the fore. On risks, she writes:
Many adults are still unwilling to take [risks} and see their children take. If those
children have the imagination to adjust to what they gradually find out about the
intersubjective world as they move further and further away from the views of their
original home, they are bound to reinterpret their early experiences, perhaps to see the
course of their lives as carrying out the impossible rather than the necessary" (Greene,
1995, p. 21).
As empathy is connected to imagination, taking risks requires empathy. Living in an intersubjective reality where individuals are always in connection with each other, empathy is necessary. The lack of empathy asserts the power and domination of oppression and defines the categorization of oppressors/oppressed and teacher/students.
The lack of empathy is related to the lack of imagination. Paulo Freire's work on oppression affirms that in situations where oppression is dominant, whether it is an educational context or a social one, the oppressors are incapable of understanding the lives Possibilities For New Beginnings 43 and suffering of the oppressed. The oppressors do not have the capability to imagine how the oppressed live their lives and consequently cannot empathize with them.
When teachers can't imagine what it is like to be a student or what struggles "others" go through within the hierarchies of the system whether it is the school's system, the social, or the political, they can't help their students in liberation or in perceiving new possibilities. Teachers as social agents need to be in a continuous process of self- reflection and examination of their perceptual views and ability to imagine in the world they inhabit. Greene asserts:
Imagination is as important in the lives of the teacher as it is in the lives of their
students, in part because teachers incapable of thinking imaginatively....are probably
also unable to communicate to the young what the use of imagination signifies. If it is
the case that imagination feeds one's capacity to feel one's way into another's vantage
point, these teachers may be too lacking in empathy (Greene, 1995, 36-37).
Considering imagination as one of the most important arenas that allows educators to hope, believe, and act as social agents, it is important to look at what is it in the educational context that paves the way for imagination to surge out and become part of the habitual that widens the scope of possibilities.
Literature and Imagination
To Greene, the arts are what bring imagination to the fore. Her (1995) book,
Releasing the Imagination is an example of how literature unfolds the capacity of
21 Greene's thinking on the importance of the arts in releasing the imagination covers all kinds of arts, literacy, music, acting, theatre, etc.... Although I continuously refer to literature, my intention is not to limit the work of imagination to literature only. Possibilities For New Beginnings 44 imagination. To her, literature is what moves someone to imagine as the language it discloses allows alternative ways of being in the world (p. 90). Such language allows the recognition that there would never be a "final resolution of the tensions involved" (p. 92) around us in the world and in our everyday life. Greene shares that the dilemmas literature presents:
The recognition that there was no clear answer.... made me begin to understand the
ways in which involvement with literature feeds into interrogation. Reading, working
to achieve works of fiction as meaningful within my experience, I found the questions
remained forever opened, I could never, never be sure (p. 92).
In believing that tensions are resolved and questions are answered, or that every-day reality as a given -objectively defined, hope diminishes and one falls into the trap of despair. "Taking it for granted, we do not realize that that reality, like all others, is an interpreted one" (p. 45).
It is important to remember that one is free and the ability to assess one's situation as one where there is a choice of course of action over another, individuals/teachers and students are in the process of becoming moral agents (p. 46).
Metaphor in Literature. The lack of certainty and the ability to realize that the existence of choices is enhanced by the metaphors that the literature provides. Interpreting the metaphors brings the elements of surprise into thinking, triggers the imagination, enhances questioning, brings forth uncertainty, and allows the interrogation to move us to new possibilities and meanings. To Cynthia Ozick (1989), "Metaphor is one of the agents of our moral nature, and the more serious we are in life, the less we can do without it" (as cited in Greene, 1995, p. 99). To Greene, teachers' engagement with imagination and Possibilities For New Beginnings 45 metaphor is the only way they can make sense of their learning. She poses an important question to the teachers-learners on the importance of imagination; "How else can
[teachers] see themselves as practitioners, working to choose, working to teach in an often indecipherable world?"(p. 99)
Imagination and the Liberator Social Agent Teacher
While teachers who did not learn to imagine tend to take existing realities for granted without questioning the existing dominant hegemony, teachers whose thinking is triggered by imagination have a fresh look at the taken for granted. On the fresh look, Greene writes:
Without that ability, most of us, along with our students, would remain submerged in
the habitual. We and they would scarcely notice, much less question, what has
appeared perfectly "natural" throughout our life histories. We and they would,
therefore, be almost incapable of reflective critique (Greene, 1995, p. 100).
Therefore, teachers who act as social agents search for alternative ways of seeing their world. They are the ones who attempt to surpass the immediate circumstances of oppression through their imaginative capacity provided by the literature they encounter and teach their students. In addition to critical thinking, the revolutionary leader and social agent must have the ability to imagine as "it is the imagination that draws us on, that enables us to make new connections among parts of our experience, that suggests the contingency of the reality we are envisaging" (Greene, 1995, p. 30).
She goes on to assert:
The beholder, the percipient, the [teacher] learner must approach [the Arts] from
the vantage point of her or his lived situation, that is, in accord with a distinctive point Possibilities For New Beginnings 46
of view and interest... [It is] the imaginative capacity that allows us to experience
empathy with different point of view, even with interests apparently at odds with ours.
Imagination may be a new way of decentring ourselves, of breaking out of the
confinements of privatism and self regard into a space where we can come face to face
with others and call out, here we are (p. 31).
The kind of imagination needed for social agency is one that brings an "ethical concern to the fore" (p. 35). It is the kind that moves the educator from the realms of individualism, privatization, and alienation into a concern with a community, a "concern about what gives this community color and significance" (p. 35).
The Tasks of the Social Agent Teacher
To Greene, the social agent educator, the liberator teacher who is capable of getting out of the cycle of oppression and seeing things as if they could be otherwise, is the one who is in touch with the actualities of their own experiences, their own biographies, and the ways in which these affect the tone of their encounters with the young. However, such teachers need to be aware of how they personally confront the unnerving questions present in the lives of every teacher, every parent: what shall we teach them? How can we guide them? What hope can we offer them? How can we tell them what to do? (Greene, 1978, p.
47). Moreover, such teachers need to help their students, "attain clarity about how to choose, how to decide what to do. This involves teachers directly and immediately" (p.
48).
The Process of Teaching for Social Agency and Liberation
This process involves equipping students with the possibility and tools to identify alternatives, and to see possibilities in the situation they confront. It involves the teaching Possibilities For New Beginnings 47 of principles, "possible perspectives by which those situations can be assessed and appraised, as well as the norms governing historical inquiry, ballet dancing, or cooperative living" (Greene, 1978, p. 51). In situations where oppression is dominant and where teachers/students are not aware of the situations they confront, this process of evaluation, identifying solutions, making historical inquiries is what constitutes the opening of possibilities. This process does not only involve students but their teachers as well. It is what paves the way to action on the situation.
Agency as a Social Endeavour and a Need for Space and Place
However, one might, again, ask about the possibility for action and work on liberation in situations where oppression is dominant and part of the social norms and everyday living! Although to Greene, awareness for possibilities starts at an individual level, it should encompass individuality to involve the community as it is a human endeavour for a society in the making. When awareness for the necessity of agency and liberation takes its toll, Greene suggests the need for finding space and place within the community for those teachers who can create the kind of conditions that can move diverse young persons to take their own initiative and move beyond what they are taught....the kind of teachers who can combine theory and practice and make judgements of what they learned, and discovered through empirical research. They are the teachers who share their thinking with the students and who "submit their own judgement to the scrutiny of those they teach, to open perspectives, to open worlds" (Greene, 1978, p. 83).
Social agent educators need to be part of the decision-making and need to take authorship of policies that concern the community they are in. This takes place through thinking and provoking questions. Greene shares: Possibilities For New Beginnings 48
I am not suggesting that the learning communities can change the social order, I am
suggesting the seeds of what Freire calls "cultural actions" and that can be sowed by
conversations and shared activities...such activities can rarely happen if people do not
reflect on their situation, or see what is needed, what is wrong. To come to reflect, to
come to see is to learn (Greene, 1978, p. 84).
Finally, Greene's work on imagination, liberation, and the impact of the arts on realizing possibilities, is a call for education as a mean for social agency and a tool for liberation that surpasses oppression and moves beyond situations where education and educators are on the margins. Greene's work is a vision and an aim to find,
an authentic public space, that is, one in which diverse human beings can appear
before one another as, to quote Hannah Arendt "the best they know how to be."
Such a space requires the provision of opportunities for the articulation of
multiple perspective and multiple idioms, out of which something common can be
brought into being (Greene, 1988, p. XI).
This chapter explained the meaning of some key concepts used in the philosophical arguments of Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene and explained the rationale behind using their work in the context of the thesis. Moreover, Freire's work on oppression, the relationship of the oppressed and oppressor, along with the importance of Liberatory education vs. banking education were discussed. His notion and characteristics of the liberatory educator along with the focus on the importance of problem-posing and dialogue in educations were discussed. Similarly, Greene's work on the importance of educators' wide- awakening and her emphasis on self-reflection were explained. The Possibilities For New Beginnings 49 importance of the arts, especially literature, in releasing the imagination was discussed, and her views on the tasks of the social agent teacher were presented.
Based on the discussions mentioned in chapter two, chapter three points out limitations I realize in Freire's and Greene's work and suggests a common ground of both works. This chapter also suggest embodying Maria Lugones' position, in "the middle of either/or", as an important component to the common ground taken for Freire and Greene in the justification of teachers as social agents. Possibilities For New Beginnings
Chapter Three
Freire and Greene: Limitations, Common Ground and a Move from
Either/Or to "In the Middle of Either/Or"
Chapter three constitutes my argument for the need of a philosophical framework that allows the move from indifference and despair into agency and participation in education.
This chapter comprises two sections. Section one highlights some contextual limitations perceived in both Freire's and Greene's work22 along with a proposition of a philosophical common ground that combines elements from both. In section two I propose adding Maria
Lugones' position "in the middle of either/or" to Freire's and Greene's common ground. I argue that the addition of this position, "in the middle of either/or" strengthens the justification of teachers as social agents as it helps unpack perceptions of marginalization and situationality that hinder liberatory teaching. I argue that we inhabit multiple of positions at different times and space and hence cannot escape impacting the worlds of others. Proposing Lugones' position, "in between either or" in combination to Freire and
Greene's philosophical common ground is to bring to educators' attention the constraints brought forth by the dominant hegemony. These constraints hinder the educators' conceptual flexibility and freedom to act as social agents within the different realms of oppression.
The contextual limitations stem from the difficulties I perceive when trying to conceptually employ some of Freire's or Greene's educational philosophical perspectives and suggestions in other contexts (educational or geographical), one of which is the Lebanese context referred to in chapter one. More on this is discussed in the chapter.
50 Possibilities For New Beginnings 51
Section one
Limitations and Common Ground in Freire's and Greene's Work
Freire's work on oppression and liberation and Greene's insights on the impact of imagination and literature on social agency provide a good ground for the philosophical justifications of teachers as social agents given the conditions of despair and oppression.
However, some of their work discussed in chapter two comprises limitations when trying to apply it in different contexts (the Lebanese context is one example).
Limitations Perceived in Freire's Work
Freire's work on oppression, liberation, and the role of praxis resonates with an educational dream that many educators strive for. His vision becomes especially important in places where social injustices are eminent and educators struggle to overcome such realities. Freire's discussions on oppression provide a comprehensive tool for understanding such realities and bring them to the fore. He condemns the formal kind of education that he calls "banking education." To Freire, the more students put their efforts into receiving and storing information deposited in them, the less they can attain the critical consciousness that comes from "intervening in reality as makers and transformers of their worlds" ( as cited in Blackburn, 2000, p.4).
Within this context, Freire affirms the important role of the liberator educator who is capable of changing the educational system from a banking mode to a dialogical problem- posing one. Such an educator, Freire asserts, is one who comes from the oppressed. To him, "who is better prepared than the oppressed to understand the terrible significance of an oppressed society," hence the educator liberator is one who suffered from oppression. Possibilities For New Beginnings 52
Awareness of the reality of oppression. Experiencing living in places where oppression and lack of social justice is politically, institutionally, and socially dominant; such realities become part of the status quo. In such places, the "oppressed" might not be aware of the reality of the oppression they live in because they have no knowledge of how
"things could be otherwise." In such contexts, oppressive actuality becomes normalized and not realized. This is where a question comes to mind: where does the oppressed liberator educator get his/her insightful education from? Taking the harsh conditions of oppression that Freire talks about, opportunities for education that liberates the oppressed educators and gives them the opportunity to surpass circumstances can be very minimal and scarce. Moreover, even if we assume that some of the oppressed get the chance and privilege to education that provides the proper understanding of such realties; would
Freire still consider such individuals as members of the oppressed given the fact that they are more privileged than their group members? Taking into consideration the dominant hierarchies in societies, the guarantee that the oppressed liberator educator won't fall for a place and space in the hierarchical context is minimal. Furthermore, this idea brings forth another limitation I realize in Freire's early work; his sharp distinction between the oppressed and the oppressor, the privileged and the marginalized.
The sharp distinction between the oppressed and the oppressor. Freire writes about the interrelated relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor and describes how the oppressed can become the oppressor. His distinction between the two categories is sharp and definite. Elias (1994) mentions that Freire was "too prone to divide societies into good and bad," and his absorption with class struggle does not leave room for the existence of oppression within social groups (as cited in Ohliger,1995). Indeed, Freire's Possibilities For New Beginnings 53 focus on class discrimination ignores the reality that, as Daniel Schugurensky (1998) points out, human beings can be simultaneously oppressed and oppressors according to their different identities class i.e. gender, race, age, ability, and religion (as cited in
Hendriks, 1994, f 11). Moreover, even within the educational context, oppression related to gender, class, and race takes place. In many places around the world, one of which is
Lebanon, oppression based on gender takes place most of the time. In such masculine patriarchal communities, women with the same qualifications as men are allocated minor positions. Another example on oppression based on status is when teachers in the same institution treat their colleagues with superiority forcing their decisions. This is usually derived from the position of power the system provides.
The definite nature and distinction of either/or, either good or bad, either oppressed or oppressor, is what I argue against in the second part of the chapter as it asserts and empowers the politics of domination and limits the capability of the educator liberator.
Differences in Oppression. Based on personal experience that is a result of living under oppressive conditions, I realize that the nature of oppression differs in each context.
Taking, for example, the Lebanese context, the nature of oppression is elicited from the factional groupings and divisions that have existed throughout the history of the country and the area (Nauffal, 2004). While Freire's emphasis on oppression is rooted in the contextual exploitation of peasants in Brazil and lack of education which results in the emergence of liberatory education, the Lebanese conditions are different. Although a large number of the people who are amongst the "oppressed" are educated and aware of the realities around them, they are submissive to such realities. In this context, it is important to ask whether educators are willing to realize and search for different realms and Possibilities For New Beginnings 54 openings! Blackburn (2000) mentions that there is a "possibility that educators may be unable (or even unwilling) to strangle the oppressor within them, they may consequently misuse their position to manipulate those over which they potentially have so much power" (p. 11). In a context similar to Lebanon, many of the educated oppressed who resemble the potential educator liberator, do not, always, demonstrate the initiative to move out of the given and act differently.
However, it is important to mention that pointing out differences in oppression is not to conceal its contextual impact and not to deny Freire's acknowledgement of the different kinds of oppression exist. My main goal is to point out that even with educators' awareness and knowledge of the impact and effects of oppression; some consciously choose not to act. Freire's emphasis on the importance of liberatory education in helping the oppressed move to liberation cannot, always, be generalized in all contexts and circumstances. Although according to Freire, during the initial stages of liberation, the oppressed tend to regress and oppress others, my concern is related to educators who get trapped in this stage and never get out in spite of their realization of their oppression and that of their colleagues, families, or people in their community.
Freire writes about the systemic impact and how it hinders the educator from acting on the problems that exist. My concern is related to the complexity of power structures, the temptations in the existing system, and the intensity of the liberator educators' needs and obligations that make them surrender to the status quo and become part of it at a conscious level! When some educators choose not to resist and on the contrary choose to Possibilities For New Beginnings 55 oppose and oppress each other as a way to preserve a place and space under the dominant systemic hegemony, can we assume here that reflection always leads to action23?
Oppression in Neoliberalism. Freire's contestation of the neoliberal world with its individualism and consumerism brings attention to the harm implicated by it. However, the sharp distinction that Freire presents between the oppressed and oppressor assumes that within the neoliberal context and community whether it is political or educational, the members that belong to it are far from experiencing oppression. It is important to note, however, that within the elitist educational institutions that comprise many of the members of the neoliberal communities, oppression takes place. Although it is different from the kind of oppression Freire refers to, it is still a form of oppression. One example can be taken from my teaching experience in an International school in Lebanon. It is a school considered to be one of the most expensive in the country where tuition fees require clientele of a certain socioeconomic status. Although one would think that students in this school are provided with everything they wish because of the financial status of their families, many of them do not get the proper care and attention needed due to the life style their parents lead. If taking and accepting the distinction of oppressed and oppressors, I would in such circumstances consider those students as oppressed. Some of them rarely interact with their parents and are left to the discretion of their nannies and drivers! This is one reality of neoliberalism that is full of oppressive situations.
I am aware of the systemic impact on the lives of educators and how, in spite of their awareness of oppression, moves them either to despair or indifference. Although the impact of power relations is part of the conversations on oppression, this discussion needs extensive explanation that is beyond the scope of this thesis. I, however, make some suggestions in chapter four of the need to resist systemic dominant powers. Possibilities For New Beginnings 56
Although I am aware that Freire's later works include the connection of neoliberalism to oppression, his discussions do not explicitly refer to oppression within the neoliberal class itself. Mostly, and especially in his earlier work, Freire refers to oppression at the level of those who are exploited by the existing regime.
Limitations Perceived in Greene's Work
Similar to Freire's work on oppression and the ability of the individual educator to initiate liberation trough praxis, Greene's work focuses on the importance of one's agency and new beginning in the world we live in. Greene (1995) writes about her belief in the human capacity to transcend the given. In her writing, she continuously mentions that to learn and to teach is to be different, to be in the process of becoming. On the importance of process Greene writes:
If it were not a process, there would be no surprise. The surprise comes along with
becoming different-consciously different as one finds ways of acting on envisaged
possibility. It comes along with hearing different words and music, seeing from
unaccustomed angles, realizing that the world perceived from one angle is not the
world (Greene, 1995, p. 20).
To Greene, the process of "wide- awakening" takes place when one encounters the arts. This is the time when the educator learner gets the chance to learn how to release his/her imagination. Although Greene's emphasis is on the importance of the arts in all its forms, i.e. literature, music, and drama, she focuses on the importance of literature.
Greene asserts that literature, music, and visual art, "deals with particularities, seduces persons to see and to feel, to imagine, to lend their lives to another's perspective" (Greene,
1995, p. 69). Greene goes on to say, "it is the experience of 'another's perspective,' in Possibilities For New Beginnings 57 particular, that releases the social imagination... an [experience of] awakening of the
'social imagination,' the kind of imagination needed to envision social change" (as cited in Marken, 2007, p. 36). To Greene, this kind of imagination is the most important tool to the teacher acting as social agent. Marken goes on to assert that in the context of teaching, imagination "feeds [a teacher's] capacity to feel [their] way into [the students'] vantage point" (p. 36). To her, when teachers empathize with students they become capable of creating an environment in their classroom that is conducive to emancipator paradigms of education.
A Special Emphasis on the Importance of Literature
Greene's assertion on the importance of the arts and, especially, the impact of literature in releasing the imagination is stated in the following:
To realize that the works of literature were deliberately created to communicate
multiple but particular perceptions of dimensions of human reality is come in touch
with what has been called the "conversation" going on each in public and "within each
of ourselves" (p. 100)
She continues to assert this position,
Doctrinaire or explicitly revolutionary literature is not needed when literary work of art
have the capacity to move readers to imagine alternative ways of being alive....if these
works (novels that show certain aspects in the community) are attended to as created
words and are achieved by readers in the ways described, the experiences they open to
informed awareness cannot be self-enclosed and cannot miseduacte (p. 101).
Accessibility of literature in multiple of contexts. Greene's suggestions on the importance and wealth of literature in enriching teachers' imagination are applicable when Possibilities For New Beginnings 58 taking school/political contexts flexible enough to initiate or permit such creativity in their curriculums. However, when talking about the kind of oppression that impacts decision making in the educational context, curriculums and policy making, I find some of
Greene's suggestions limited and difficult to achieve.
Taking, for example, poor countries and looking at the minimal resources provided in such places, the availability and exposure to literature is very limited and almost absent24.
Moreover, in places similar to Lebanon where many years were and still are lived in war or the recuperation from it, educational reform stays at its minimal stage especially in the public sector. Although there are multiple factors that impact the public sector, funding and political agendas are among the major ones. In such circumstances, little attention is given to the importance of literature. In her writing about the educational reform that took place in Lebanon after the civil war, Inati (1999) mentions that more attention was given to the sciences. Furthermore, Nawfal (2004) writes that in many places similar to
Lebanon, the educational system works to support the dominate hegemony. Similar to
Lebanon and in many places where oppression is dominant, little attention is given to the literature and to artistic expressions that allow people to experience wide-awakening and
"homecoming". In spite of the fact that in some contexts, cultural stories are expressed through the arts (songs, myths, music, dance etc..) and can open scopes for learning, in
Although I am aware of the fact that literature is not the only resource in a the school's context that helps release a students' imagination, my contention is related to the kind of literature that Greene refers to, the kind that does not only require teachers'/educators' knowledge of it but budgets catered for it. In many schools there are hardly decent libraries that students can pick a book from that allows the shift of consciousness to take place. Possibilities For New Beginnings 59 highly political and factional contexts both literature and artistic expressions can become a medium to the ideas of dominant hegemony.
Teachers and Awareness of Literature
Nevertheless, when taking into consideration private schools where, at times, the exposure to literature is a possibility, more questions arise: how can teachers who have not been exposed to the ways literature and the arts help them release their imagination help their students fulfill this role and reach possibilities? In cultures that emphasize the importance of competitions, grades, and performance versus creativity through reading, writing, and performing, how can the arts find its place? In answering these questions, I will refer to my personal experience as a learner and teacher.
As an adult educator and former student in Lebanon, I vividly recall the scarcity of material available during my formal learning years due to the war and unavailability of resources at schools. Public libraries have never existed in my country and my richest exposure to literature as a student was through an old library (mainly Arabic literature) that my father gathered before the war. This situation is similar to that of many people of my generation. With the present focus on competition represented in grades and reflected in the scientific domain, reading and literature is not a priority. Without experiences that allow educators to realize the existence of the wealth and creativity of literature or the arts, their view on its importance is limited which impacts the way they value its necessity in their classroom.
If we take literature as the most important source of imagination that liberates and if teachers are not, conceptually, convinced of its importance due to all the above mentioned reasons; we will be giving up the hope and justification of teachers as social agents Possibilities For New Beginnings 60 capable of going beyond the immediate and seeing things as if they could be otherwise.
Section two of this chapter connects to the subsequent sections on the common ground among Freire and Greene's work where I argue for the importance of adding
Lugones' position of "in between either or" as an important component to the awareness of the hierarchies of domination that assert oppression.
A Common Ground for Freire's and Greene's Work
In relation to the basic quest of the thesis to find philosophical justification for teachers as social agents given the circumstances of oppression and despair, I suggest a common ground of both Freire's and Greene's philosophical thinking as related to the context. This common ground suggests the importance of the educators' self and contextual reflection as a mean to help him/her transcend oppressive realities. This suggestion is supported by Freire's and Greene's works on the important role of the educator liberator. Freire's liberator is the educator, and the "we" that Greene refers to in her writing is related to educators as well. To both of them, educators are the ones who are capable of opening spaces for themselves, the community, or the educational institutions.
This opening of spaces is characterized by a persistence of dialogue and critical reflection.
However, in the context of the role of liberator educators it is important to clarify that although there is an emphasis on self-reflection, it is necessary that this self-reflection expands to the contexts where educators live. Greene cautions us of pure self reflection
(self improvement projects and initiatives) as to her:
Few rest upon face to face communication among distinctive individuals trying to
interpret their intersubjective lives...But there appears less and less likelihood of
emotional commitment. Absorbed in self-perfecting, people begin not to care or to Possibilities For New Beginnings 61
prefer not to be fully involved outside their circles of private space....The problems
arise when they choose their private passions as alternatives to membership, to
existence in community (Greene, 1978, 151-152).
Therefore, the liberator educator, social agent needs to expand the power of reflection beyond oneself into his/her context and up to the level of community . Moreover, for both Greene and Freire, the reflection required is dialogical in nature as it leads to problem-posing and growth of the imagination. On the importance of conversations and dialogue Greene contends;
to realize that the work of literature were deliberately created to communicate multiple
but particular perceptions of dimensions of human reality is to come in touch with what
has been called the "conversation" going on each in public and "within each of
ourselves" (Greene, 1995, p. 100).
Freire asserts this point when he writes "the revolutionary leaders need not take full power before they can employ the method....They must be revolutionary — that is to say dialogical — from the outset (Freire, 1970/2007, p. 86). Moreover, it is also important to point out that to both Freire and Greene, although problem-posing is, sometimes, initiated by others, the utmost goal is to get learners to realize and identify problems on their own.
While to Greene, this would be the time when learners start finding openings and realize possibilities, to Freire, it is the process through which educators and learners both become involved in the learning process, realize the problems encountered, and learn from each other.
25 By community I refer to all kinds of contexts that the liberator educator relates to, whether it is the educational institution, social groups, political parties, etc... Possibilities For New Beginnings 62
Lastly, although this common ground constitutes most of the important philosophical justification for teachers as social agents, I realize that there is one more move needed to bring the awareness of oppression to the consciousness of the liberator educators. This move is related to the necessity of educators' realization and distinction of the either/or positioning. When writing about either/or, I refer to the sharp distinction that identifies people, limits their identity, and separate them into categories in which they are either oppressed or oppressors, marginalized or dominant, outsiders or insiders. I argue that the limitation emerging from this distinction asserts the dominant hegemony and hinders teachers from acting as social agents. Consequently, I suggest the need to take another position called "in the middle of either/or." I argue that this position allows teachers the freedom and flexibility to realize their multiplicity and the different roles they play in the worlds they inhabit.
Section Two
But then I ask myself who my own people are. When I think of my own people, the
only people I can think of as my own are transitional, border-dwellers, world-
travelers26, beings in the middle of either/or (Lugones, 2003, p. 134)
Either/or, or "In the Middle of Either/or"
In this section, the either/or I refer to is related to the sharp distinction the positioning of oneself as either oppressed or oppressor; outsider or insider creates. In this section, the terms outsider/insider are related to the hierarchies of domination and subordination, the
The terms in this quote refer to Maria Lugones' work on one's multiplicity and movement between different realities and experiences. More on her work is discussed later on in this chapter.
27 Although the terms outsider and insider are, sometimes, referred to differently by different authors, in the context of this thesis, the term outsider is attributed to the subordinated and oppressed while the term insider Possibilities For New Beginnings 63 oppressor and the oppressed, the marginalized and the dominant. The position of "in the middle of either/or" emerges from the feelings of strong resistance I experienced as an educator when attempting to consider myself either an outsider or an insider when making an effort to find a space to get settled, secure, and "innocent" . When attempting to take one of the either/or positions a question keeps persisting: why does the attempt to take one of these positions not feel empowering; indeed, it feels, rather, disorienting and self- deceiving? In an attempt to answer this question, I resorted to self-reflection, reading, and talking to colleagues in the educational realm. I realize that the sharp distinction of either/or, an outsider or an insider, sustains and reinforces the hierarchies of domination and oppression that we29, educators, try to work against yet keep falling into its trap.
Therefore, in this section, I further trouble this sharp distinction of the either/or in order to highlight the inefficiency of settling in a space that identifies us as either an outsider or an insider. Feelings of settlement can obscure our realization of the lack of our complicity in each others' lives. In this section, the terms outsider/insider are directly related to oppression and systems of domination.
is attributed to the dominating and oppressor. In this part, I will use the terms outsider and insider interchangeably with the terms oppressed and oppressor. Moreover the naming, outsider/insider, oppressed/or oppressor, are not mutually exclusive as a person is situated in such a way as to animate positions of both oppressed and oppressor.
28 The term "innocent" is mentioned in Fellows' and Razzack's 1998 article "The Race to Innocence." The feeling of innocence stems from the belief that "women" or in this context educators, are not implicated in the subordination of other educators.
29 In the context of the thesis, I will use the first person, we, to refer to educators. At times I will alternate between the two words. Possibilities For New Beginnings 64
The next part highlights the limitation the notion of outsider/insider, oppressed or oppressor brings to teachers' work as social agents. This takes place through considering the related work done in this area by Fellows and Razzack's30 "The race to innocence"
(1998) and Uma Narayan's "Working together across difference" (1988). I seek an alternative to, either/or positioning through examining Maria Lugones' work on two kinds of separation and the multiplicity of the self.
Fellows and Razzack's perception of the Outsider and Insider
In their article "The Race to Innocence", Fellows and Razzack (1998) point out some of the reasons behind the failure of feminist coalition and solidarity. One of the reasons is
"competing marginalities." Competing marginalities is based on the belief that each one of us women/educators is not implicated in the subordination of other women/educators.
When we view ourselves as innocent, we cannot confront the hierarchies that operate among us. Instead, each woman claims that her own marginality is the worst one; failing to interrogate her complicity in other women's lives, she continues to participate in the practices that oppress other women" (Fellows & Razzack, 1998, p. 335).
Although the authors do not explicitly use the words outsider and insider, women's competing marginalities and the need to emphasize one's subordination highlights their sense of being an outsider within systems of domination. In the context of their paper, the outsider is the one on the margins- the oppressed- while the insider is the one who belongs
Although Fellows and Razzack^s work in the article is related to women's solidarity, their discussion on the obstacles hierarchies of domination and oppression created is similar to my argument on the limitation the distinction of either/or in the educational realms brings to the teachers' ability to work as social agents. Possibilities For New Beginnings 65 to the privileged group or as I will call this group, the hub of the wheel . By unintentionally taking distinct positions, either/or, educators or women indirectly assert the politics of subjugation. However, and to further elaborate my intention of troubling the positionality as either/or, I refer to the examples presented in Fellows and Razzack's writing on the 19th century development of hierarchies of domination that played within the middle class home in sustaining and developing domination.
Historical Account on the Hierarchies of Domination
The European nineteenth century middle class home required a gender hierarchy and a colonial economic order to finance it and initiated the creation of a world "that positions white, middle class, heterosexual, non-disabled at the center" (Fellows & Razzack, 1998, p. 336). Ladies were distinguished from men by being characterized as primitive. Ladies tried to gain respectability by distancing themselves from dirt and degradation through the economic and sexual exploitation of domestic workers and women prostitutes which produced all kinds of hierarchies. In an attempt for liberation, women tried to gain a
"toehold on respectability" . In their turn, domestic workers maintained a toehold on respectability through the disavowing of women prostitutes. However, if women's liberation leaves intact the subordination of other women, liberation is not achieved and the "race to innocence"33 starts.
311 use the metaphor of the wheel to emphasize my point of having the powers of domination at the center while everything else rotates around them.
2 Hold on to their position of subordination as they feel it is the only way to win respect for their claim of liberation.
The "Race to Innocence" is when one woman comes to believe that her own claim of subordination is the most urgent. Possibilities For New Beginnings 66
The race to innocence. Fellows and Razzack assert that the "race to innocence" prevents women/educators from realizing that systems of domination are interlocked and related to each other in a hierarchy that sustains and reinforces the powers of domination while keeping others on the margins (p.335). Those 'others' are the ones that Maria
Lugones refers to as "simply human or simply [educators]" and in the context of the systems of domination, are "allotted specific identity boxes" (Fellows & Razzack, 1998, p.
341). Following the social/political norms34 is what characterizes the dominant group insiders/oppressors while those who do not follow are excluded, labelled, and marked as outsiders/oppressed. Labelling, presenting, and asserting the identity of groups as outsiders, defines, feeds, and sustains those who are not marked or labelled (the oppressors and the insiders), the ones at the center; the hub of the wheel.
When thinking of educational initiatives and reforms, women's movements, initiatives for solidarity, and the increased number of educated people within the persistent presence of hierarchies of domination in the twenty first century, the situation becomes unsettling and calls for change. Attempts at educational and domestic institutions to gain respectability through the subordination of others whether the 'Other' is the co-worker, students, domestic helper, mother, wife or children reinforces and asserts the sharp distinction adhered to the notions of either/or and keeps the hierarchies intact. To Greene,
"The crucial problem is challenging what is taken for granted: ideas of hierarchy, of deserved deficits, of delayed gratification...A new pedagogy is obviously required"
(Greene, 1978, p. 70).
In this context, the norm is what is decided by the privileged dominant group. Possibilities For New Beginnings 67
A Reversed Perspective of Outsider/Insider, the Oppressed and the Oppressor
In attempting to challenge the conventional framework of what is central and what is marginal, Uma Narayan (1988) presents a reversed definition of outsiders and insiders. To her, the insiders are members of the disadvantaged groups, the oppressed, while the outsiders are the non-members. To Narayan, there are different levels of looking at the notions of outsiders and insiders depending on their epistemological, political and personal connections. She affirms that although the distinction of insiders and outsiders plays a role in highlighting the existence of political/epistemological hierarchies within the society, there is no group that we can call homogenous, even those who hold a common goal. She writes:
Any autonomous group that is going to represent the interests of, say, [educator], is
going to both consist of and represent [educators] from different class and ethnic
backgrounds, with different sexual preferences, cultures, experiences etc...It seems
impossible to have groups whose members will have no significant differences
among themselves, despite the commonalities of their oppression and of interests
that bind them together (Narayan, 1988, p. 34)
To Narayan, what is important is trying to work across differences and understand them35. She contends that, "learning to understand and respect these differences can make more complex our understanding of ourselves and our societies, can broaden the range of
Narayan's position about differences is related to the relationship that takes place when "outsiders"
(people from another community), try to help "insiders" (disadvantaged groups of a certain community), learn about their oppressive situations. Her article does not avoid the systemic problems of the oppressed but rather points them out. For more clarification of her position, refer to her article cited in the reference list. Possibilities For New Beginnings 68 our politics and enrich the variety of connections we have as persons" (p. 32). Narayan goes on to say:
It would seem that even when people are working together for powerfully binding and
common social and political goals, a progressive organization or movement cannot be
sustained unless the prejudices and problems that arise between members are examined
and programmatically addressed (p. 33).
The Permeability of the two Notions; the Outsider and the Insider
Narayan's writing shows the distinction of either/or from the beginning. To her, even the knowledge of both is different. The insiders/oppressed have the epistemic privilege
"the detailed and concrete ways in which oppression defines the spaces in which they live and how it affects their lives", while the outsiders/oppressors have a better access to the
"explanatory theories and conceptual tools that help understand the specifities of certain forms of oppression." (Narayan, 1988, p. 36)
A question comes to mind here: what about those people who are part of the oppressed group, who know what is it like to live under oppression -epistemic privilege- and have the conceptual tools and explanatory theories about it as well (similar to Freire's liberator educator)? Where do they stand, and how easy it to place them within the realm of either/or! In this instance, can we allow this sharp distinction to persist?
Narayan mentions the permeability of the roles of people in homogenous groups, and
I am here asserting the permeability of the notion of outsider and insider or oppressed or oppressor. One can be an 'insider' and an 'outsider' at the same time. One can be the oppressor in one group and the oppressed in another and hence it becomes very difficult to assume a sharp distinction of both; as a humane educator one would rather be "in the Possibilities For New Beginnings 69 middle of either/or36". Before I move on to explain what I mean by "in the middle of either/or," I want to mention that in taking this position, I am not trying to deny the reality of the existence of margins, systems of domination, privilege, and the positionality of oneself as either an outsider or insiders, oppressed and oppressor. / am troubling the acceptance and settlement in this line of thinking as it hinders looking at our role through a different lens-that of social agency- from what is assigned to us by the powers of domination. I am refusing the limitation of the "singularity' that the theory of domination offers and expects. In this context and in order to make my position clearer, I want to assert that arguing for this position is not to deny that the distinction is present and persistent. I am challenging the conceptual distinction of either/or and calling for a conceptual understanding of the hegemonic aim of this distinction. I am calling for the realization that emerges from understating the powers we assert by not making this conceptual realization. When educators are convinced of one reality and one certainty, where do we expect the hope for social change to emerge from? When destiny is the only answer, aren't we asserting the systemic and the dominant? When there is no plurality but one definite systemic reality, can educators become creative, imaginative, and dream of liberation or dialogue?
"In the middle of either/or" does not indicate taking a middle position. If assuming a middle place, we are assuming a limitation that contradicts with our intention to move away from the limitations enforced through the distinction of either /or. This phrase refers to the power of resistance that goes beyond the either/or.
More explanation takes place in the next section on Maria Lugones.
371 am using the terms, we, our, and I interchangeably, to indicate the role of educators of which I am one. Possibilities For New Beginnings 70
On the reflections above, I refer to Maria Lugones' work and start with her question:
"When you do not see plurality in the very structure of a theory, what do you see ?"
(Lugones, 2003, p. 75)
Purity/ Impurity and Plurality
I ask myself, what do we see in a theory of domination that sustains the importance of being either an outsider or an insider, either an oppressed or an oppressor? In the context of oppression, why is plurality important to the educator liberator? In this part and in order to clarify my argument for a need of "in the middle of either/or" position as an act of agency and resistance to the sharp distinction of the self as either/or (outsider or insider), I will refer to Maria Lugones' ideas on separation and their relation to resistance, forces of domination, and subordination39.
Two Acts of Separation
To emphasize her point on separation from dominant hegemonies and oppression,
Lugones constructs a metaphor for impurity based on the egg. Splitting the egg yolk from the white, she says, is an act of separation for the purpose of purity, "a process that is tedious and hardly ever entirely successful" (Lugones, 2003, p. 121). After attempts of pure splitting (no residues in either the yolk or the white) and in a process of coalition, say, the making of mayonnaise, curdling might take place (when ingredients separate and gather/ 'chalice' either toward the oil or water).There are two acts of separation: one that
38 By not seeing plurality, I am not assuming that it does not exist. The crucial issue is bringing its existence to the awareness of the educator liberator to help him/her realize the hindrances implicated by assuming one reality, i.e. the dominant oppressive one.
391 am using the word resistance as it is directly related to the realms of oppression that I write about in this thesis. Possibilities For New Beginnings constitutes purity, as in splitting (white from yolk) and one that is impure, as in curdling
(ingredients separate and curdle toward other ingredients). Curdling becomes an exercise of impurity while split separation is one of purity.
Lugones' account highlights the logic and order in the social world as it constitutes
'selves'. Split separation (purity) is an act of power for the purpose of control; it requires breaking down of things into elements for the sake of control. In this kind of controlled hegemony, elements are fragmented and follow the order of the social world. In her words, "according to the logic of purity, the social world is unified and fragmented, homogenous, hierarchically ordered....Unification and homogeneity are related principles for ordering the social world" (Lugones, 2003, p. 127). According to this logic, the world is seamless. This assumption of unity is an act of split separation and the fragmentation that follows the logic of purity is composed of parts produced by splitting imagination
"produced by subordinates enacting their dominator's fantasies" (p. 127). In Lugones' words:
This assumption creates a vantage point from which unified wholes, totalities, can
be captured a construction of a subject who can occupy such a vantage
point both subject and vantage point are affected by and effect the reduction of
multiplicity....The vantage point is privileged, simple, one dimensional. The subject
is fragmented, abstract without particularity (p. 128).
The second kind of separation, as in curdling, is an act of impurity. Impurity as resistance or as Lugones calls it "Mestizaje" as "a central name for impure resistance to interlocked, intermeshed oppressions" (Lugones, 2003, p. 122). This kind of separation refuses the logic of fragmentation into pure parts and requires multiplicity. To Lugones: Possibilities For New Beginnings 72
If something or someone is neither/nor, but a kind of both, not quite either,
If something is in the middle of either/or,
If it is ambiguous, given the available classification of things,
If it is mestiza,
If it threatens by its very ambiguity the orderliness of the system, of
schematized reality,
If given its ambiguity in the univocal ordering, it is anomalous, deviant, can it
be tamed through separation? Should it resist separation?
Should it resist through separation? (Lugones, 2003, p. 122)
Mestizaje as Curdling and Multiplicity
Curdling separation is an act of resistance, a kind of "Mestizaje". Taking this position is an act of impure separation and a position of neither an 'outsider' nor an 'insider'. It is an "in the middle of either/or" position, a position that is informed by deliberation and action as in resistance and transformation. This kind of Mestizaje defies control through simultaneously asserting the impure curdled multiple states and rejecting fragmentation into pure part. In suggesting to the educator liberator the position of in "the middle of either/ or", he/she embodies what Lugones means by Mestizaje:
Mestizaje is in the middle of either/or, ambiguity, thinking of breaching and
abandoning dichotomies, thinking of being anomalous wilfully or un-wilfully in a
world of precise, hard-edged schema, thinking of resistance, resistance to a world
of purity, of domination, of control over our possibilities (Lugones, 2003, p. 123)
In this kind of Mestizaje, the educator liberator's heterogeneity and multiplicity rather than homogeneity and fragmentation are very important. However, suggesting this Possibilities For New Beginnings 73 position entails clarifying what is meant by multiplicity. I, again, resort to the definition given by Lugones:
I understand each person as many: People who experience themselves as more than
one. Having desires, character, and personality traits that are different in one reality
than in the other. In the case of people who dominate others, they might not
remember the persons they are in the reality of the dominated (Lugones, 2003, p.
56)
Greene affirms the importance of multiplicity and resistance in social agency. On the movement that takes place through the exposure to the arts, she writes:
The shocks of awareness to which the arts give rise leave us...less immersed
of the everyday and...move us into spaces where we can envision other ways of being
and ponder what it might signify to realize them. But moving into such spaces requires
a willingness to resist the forces that press people into passivity.... it requires a refusal
of what Foucault called "normalization," the power of which imposes homogeniouty
and allows people "to determine levels, to fix specialties, and to render the differences
useful by fitting them one to another" (Greene, 1995, p. 135)
Multiplicity and Imagination
In contexts that sustain the sharp distinctions of either/or, I see purity, fragmentation, and loss of multiplicity of identities as a result of fear of knowing a self-different from the norm. Within the process of fragmentation that societies place on individuals, multiplicity is suppressed and ignored. To Lugones, "you block identification with that self because it is not quite consistent with your image of yourself. ...you block identification because you are afraid of plurality: Plurality speaks to you of a world whose logic is unknown to you" Possibilities For New Beginnings 74
(Lugones, 2003, p. 73). In such contexts, oppression, as a concept and practice, reinforces the dominant hegemony that does not believe in the creativity and passion of the impure.
By the realization of the existence of multiplicity of the self, the liberator educators will be able to break out of the cycle of oppression that perceives reality as one and whole.
Greene asserts this position when she writes:
I am arguing for self-reflectiveness, however, and new disclosures, as I am arguing for
critical reflection at a moment of stasis and crystallized habits....If we consider futuring
as we combat immersion, old either/ors may disappear. We may make possible a
pluralism of visions, a multiplicity of realities. We may enable [ourselves] and those
we teach to rebel.
When educators get the chance to realize their multiplicity and plurality, their personal and social imagination expands and flourishes. It is a kind of imagination that is only accessible through a conceptual move from one space to another, from one role to another. It is a kind of imagination that allows taking multiple perspectives in an,
authentic public space that is, one in which diverse human beings can appear before
one another as, to quote Hannah Arendt "the best they know how to be." Such a space
requires the provision of opportunities for the articulation of multiple perspectives and
multiple idioms, out of which something common can be brought into being (Greene,
1988, p XI).
The ability to see, hear and embody multiple perspectives is only possible through the sense of freedom enhanced by the multiplicity educators/social agents realize and feel in its context. This kind of freedom is what allows the social agent educator to realize Possibilities For New Beginnings 75 defective patterns around him/her and imagine how the world could be otherwise, make decisions, and act accordingly.
A Personal Account on Fragmentation and Multiplicity
In order to make the above discussion on multiplicity and roles we inhabit in different places clearer, I will give brief examples from experiences in the context of the initial location of the thesis, i.e. the Lebanese context. It is important, however, to mention although the context of the thesis is related to the educational realm, I believe that educational experiences occur in many different places; home, street, and community. The examples I write about below are educational ones outside the realm of the educational institutions.
Born and situated in a community that is based on factional/sectarian and geographical classification, the act of fragmentation and categorization become part of our reality. As a child of parents from different sects, I was always considered, in the village that I belong to, an 'outsider.' I was categorized accordingly and at times ridiculed because of the habits and different dialect that I learned from my mother who comes from the city. As an adult, marrying a person from a different sect complicated things further; my alienation and categorization as an 'outsider' persisted as I was not easily accepted as part of my partner's community. The current situation I inhabit, making the choice to leave my family to pursue education in another country, places me in yet another category, an outsider to the community of motherhood and marital life. The sectarian traditional
Arab hegemony that constitutes one of the selves I inhabit expects one single "fragmented self," one that fits within the unified self of the Arab masculine religious hegemony. Possibilities For New Beginnings 76
In adopting the either/or to sustain the feelings of innocence and the need to belong, we are fragmented and purely spilt. There is no sense of resistance here; there is assertion of the plan of the oppressive dominant world. To Greene,
Only by means of such resistance....we can widen the spaces in which we choose
for ourselves. To meet a wall or barrier in our way and simply take another path is
to acquiesce not to resist... not to recognize something as an obstacle to our
growing may well be to acquiesce in oppression, especially if we live in
oppressive and humiliating circumstances (Greene, 1995, p. 135)
In this chapter, limitations related to some of Freire's and Greene's work on their justification for teachers as social agents were pointed out and a common ground for this justification was suggested. Maria Lugones' position of "in the middle of either/or" was added as an important component to the common ground taken for Freire and Greene in the justification of teachers as social agents. I argued that this component is important as it conceptually allows the realization of the fragmentation and limitation the either/or positioning suggests in an attempt to preserve the hierarchies of the dominant hegemonies presented in the educational system. Possibilities For New Beginnings
Chapter Four
Education and possibilities
Thus far in this thesis I provided contexts of specific issues tackled through the perceptions of Freire and Greene. In chapter three I pointed out some limitations perceived in Freire's and Greene's work when applied to the context of this thesis and suggested a common ground of both. I offered an alternative and a rationale of some of Freire and
Greene's work moved by Lugones' position.
Since this thesis stems from personal experiences and narratives mostly situated in the educational realm, the next and concluding step is to focus on the possibility of teachers acting as social agents. Pointing out such possibilities will take place, mostly, through discussing Maureen Ford's work on "situated knowledges" and "arrogant perceptions."
This chapter comprises three sections. The first section, investigates the significance of situated knowledges in the educational realm, the impact the sharp distinction, either/or has on teachers and students, and the effect of arrogant perceptions on students' and teachers' lives. Section two of this chapter includes brief suggestions on what teaching for social agency might look like where emphasis on the importance of dialogue, reflection, and problem-posing is highlighted. Section three shows limitations the proposals in this thesis might encounter. This section, also, presents suggestions for future investigation on topics brought to attention as a result of this work.
Section One
Education and Situated Knowledges
When I think of education, I am not only concerned with the learning that takes place in the educational institution but with all the learning that takes place in other contexts. By
77 Possibilities For New Beginnings 78 other contexts I mean, home, community, and the street. Choosing to start the discussion on educational institutions is related to my situated knowledge of such institution as a result of being a teacher in the system.
On explaining the meaning of situated knowledges, Ford writes; "It matters from where (social position) we write and know, it matters with whom we write and know, and it matters to what effects of knowledge construction and evaluation we pay attention"
(Ford, 2007, p. 307). In an educational context, it is important to reflect on experiences and knowledges learnt in the context we work in as they bring authenticity to our action and allow critical reflection. Ford states that "epistemic public" performed within situated knowledges are very unique, educationally significant, and requiring multidimensional engagement. To her "there is a multidimensional embodied engagement with spaces, people, and discourses that is explicitly part of making sense in these discourses" (p. 307).
Next, I point out some of the obstacles that make access to situated knowledges in the educational realm difficult.
Educational Attempts and Connection to Institutions
Within the school context, many educational attempts40 failed because of the lack of connection and knowledge about 'others' whether others are students, colleagues, parents, or administrators. Failing attempts are blamed on a variety of reasons some of which relate to the system, parents, student's behaviour, political situation, teachers etc...
By educational attempts I mean: work related to curriculum, new initiatives such as Character Education, and new disciplinary approaches in a school. I doubt that the situationality/worlds of students, teachers, and school culture are being well thought through before embarking on a new project. Possibilities For New Beginnings 79
Based on my experience in the educational realm, I realized that the politics of most educational institutions is identical to the hierarchies of domination in certain contexts, which is to say, the hegemonic politics of the social field at large. To Lugones, "Our visions of what is better are always informed by our perception of what is bad about our present situation." (Lugones & Spelman, 1983, p. 579). Therefore, and according to
Maureen Ford, "We must be prepared to identify and step away from institutional mandates that narrow our capacity to see and hear others as they see and hear themselves"
(Ford, 2006, p. 3). As discussions on the possibility of a big change in the educational institution are beyond the scope of this paper, I will only focus on the possibilities of change under the status quo.
Educational Institutions and the Teachers Within
Fellows and Razzack's work highlights the way systems of hierarchies are interlocked and connected. To them, systems of oppression (capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy) rely on one another in complex ways. This "interlocking" effect means that the systems of oppression come into existence in and through one another" (Fellows & Razzack, 1998, p.335). In the educational realm, existent hierarchies fragment teachers as either outsiders to the system or insiders41.
Teachers considered as 'insiders' to the educational system, abide by its normalization and accept its hierarchies. Teachers considered 'outsiders' to the system are those who try things differently from what is expected of them within their immediate
It is important to mention here in schools with the best intentions toward teachers, fragmentation is not, always, deliberate or intentional; it is a consequence of the hierarchies of positions that exist and the love of power exhibited either by administrators or fellow teachers. Possibilities For New Beginnings 80 context i.e. the system they work in. Most of the time, their effort is neither acknowledged nor accepted. This same hierarchy and positionality of teachers is applied to the students in the system. Ford writes,
Schools operate as 'worlds' in Lugones' sense of the term; they are places of safety
and 'social uptake' for some and places of risk, indifference, assimilation, and
invisibility for others. Teachers are often people who either have always been 'at
ease' in schools, or who have come to a place of comfort there. For them, schools
are places of safety, comfort, competence, and 'being at ease.' Teachers are usually
people who are fluent speakers in that world, who know the norms and the words
used (Ford, 2006, p. 14).
The different feelings addressed by Ford, where some feel safe while others feel assimilated and at risk, is what stipulates the positioning of either/or. Some feel they belong to the system while others feel they do not. Therefore, feelings that accompany the positioning of either/or do not allow teachers' or students' imagination to surpass their existing situation. Those feelings hinder the individual's ability to connect to others' worlds; a connection that is necessary to move away from "arrogant perceptions"42.
42Although in this section I, extensively, write about teachers who follow the norm, I do not intend to exclude the presence of teachers who resist the norm. They are the potential social agents whom when faced with the frustrations the either/or position requires, start asking, wondering, and hence realizing a need for the alternative position.
Moreover, The idea of arrogant perception is tackled in depth in Maria Lugones' 2003 book, "Pilgrimages" and Ford's article "Knowing Differently Situated Others: Teachers and Arrogant Perception." As I am limited with the space of the paper, I will not go into details explaining and presenting the different views of the concept itself. I will refer to it as needed for my argument. Possibilities For New Beginnings 81
Arrogant Perceptions and Teaching
Arrogant perception is the result of placing oneself at a different hierarchy from others. I believe that the mere existence of hierarchies in the educational realm, whether related to administration, staff, teachers, students, or parents, allows perceiving others arrogantly. Marilyn Fryre (1983) contends that to perceive arrogantly, is to perceive that others belong to oneself and to proceed to arrogate their substance to oneself (as cited in
Lugones, 2003).This quote asserts the logic of purity that limits the self/other to a fragmented part of a whole and hence eliminates the possibility of multiplicity; the impure and the creative.
However and as cited in Ford's work:
Arrogant perception is not always a matter of bigotry. Indeed, more often it can be
a matter of the 'worlds' into which we are trained, raised to adopt subject positions
and, with them, frames of reference within which some people in certain social
locations are not visible, even while they/we are in our/their midst...Institutional
arrogant perception separates teachers from recognizing occasions when 'world'-
travelling would be possible, let alone helpful or ethically and epistemologically
preferred (p. 13).
Ford goes on to suggest that, "teachers committed to social justice and inclusive education must resist the forms of arrogant perception endemic to schools" (Ford, 2006, p.
15). She believes that, such resistance is a move and shift from an arrogant perception to a loving perception and it involves conscious activity to mark, and step away from, the institutional frame of reference long enough to greet the other with epistemological humility (p. 17). Possibilities For New Beginnings 82
In the educational realm, educators/social agents are invited to view their worlds and those of others with loving eyes. However, Ford states a very important point, "teachers who have not experienced surprise or wonder in the face of social diversity are not in an adequate position, epistemologically, to offer nuanced appreciation of students' responses within the classroom" (p. 18). Ford's statement makes me wonder about the possibility for teachers who have never experienced surprise and wonder to do so! Where do such possibilities come from when teachers are faced with the restrictions embedded in the system they work for? When the educational sector does not provide opportunities for such perceptions, and in the absence of the awareness of the multiplicity of the self and the knowledge about the hierarchies of domination on the side of the teachers/educational community, what brings critical issues to awareness?
I think that 'worlds' that perceive arrogantly, believe that homogeneity is the way to live. Although most of those worlds function under domination and control, the feelings of suppression and unease that are created for some of their inhabitants are expressed differently. In spite of the fact that some of the inhabitants of those worlds will live at ease in them44, there are others to whom, whether they were exposed to different epistemological accounts or not, such hierarchies present resentment. Those are the very
31 am specifically referring to the worlds that function under clear domination and oppression and I come from one of them. People in such places become aware of the oppression, lack of self-dignity, and the limitations over ones multiplicity and creativity. Expressing frustrations and resentment takes place in different forms through the arts, journalism, publications, and conversations during social gatherings.
Refer to Ford's article "Knowing Differently Situated Others: Teachers and Arrogant Perception" on
"Being at ease". Possibilities For New Beginnings 83 people called by Lugones "border-dwellers, world-travelers, beings in the middle of either/or."
The Impact of the Educational/Political System and Institutions
Although I believe in the existence of those educators who are social agents, "border dwellers," searchers, and resisters in their multiplicity; I wonder if the awareness of multiplicity is enough to make them reflective thinkers and active in changing the forces of the system! What about those educators, administrators, and policy makers who tend to think that "this is the way things are [and] tend to think of themselves as free"? (Greene,
1978, p. 154). What about those other educators/people in the system who "have internalized the visions of themselves as useless and powerless.... [and] see themselves inhabiting a world which is dominated and powerful, a world resistance to any meaningful change?"(p. 154). Many live in the world either accepting its political actuality, or resorting to despair and alienation. Although such resistance can be achieved through the praxis (critical reflection and action), praxis is not, always, what initiates resistance. It is the shocking experiences that allow one to become a "homecomer" and not accept what is
"taken for granted" in one's community.
Therefore, in places where oppression takes different shapes, forms, and practices
"the most important point in education and policy is to arouse [oppressed]... people to active fellowship- and to activate engagement with the world" (Greene, 1978, p. 154).
However, in being situated in worlds, such as Lebanon, with its politically oppressive profile, educators not only need to focus on what is immediate to them, i.e. school and home, but on the whole system they live in. As was mentioned previously in the thesis, the political and educational are connected and since the educational represents the political, a Possibilities For New Beginnings 84 liberator educator involved in critical reflection and action needs to address the political realm as well. To Greene:
A political realm is a realm of action that can only be called into being by human
beings who feel themselves to be versatile enough, and free enough to bring about
differences in the world. Such realm cannot exist however, except if the individuals
involved are able to make such judgements that transcend personal subjectivity. It
cannot exist except if the participants see things as persons located in a concrete social
reality- persons with the capacity to look through the perspectives of those around them
and of those likely to be affected by what they say or do (Greene, 1978, p. 89).
In section two of this chapter, and to confirm my belief in the importance of educators' agency at all levels, political, social and educational, I will make suggestions for these realms.
Section two
Suggestions for work at the University level
Choosing to begin with suggestions at the university level is related to my belief that university groundwork for teacher-candidates is of crucial importance. Teacher-candidates are the ones who will impact the young generation45in schools. Therefore, their perceptions and preparation before they start teaching is very important as it sets the way they approach and perceive teaching and the students' community. It is important to mention here that although many university programs around the world provide
45 Starting the suggestions for university level student-candidates does not mean that I am not hopeful for the change that can take place at the level of the current teachers, suggestions on this part are made later in the chapter. Possibilities For New Beginnings 85 opportunities for reflection and growth, in many other universities there is a scarcity of programs and courses that provide teacher-candidates with the kind of epistemology that helps them realize the existence of another kind of knowledge. I am referring here to the kind of course work that reflects the common ground of Freire's and Greene's philosophical justification for teaching as social agency. I am referring to course work that emphasizes and brings to awareness the impact of oppression, the characteristics of the liberator educator, and the importance of self-reflection in moving from a position of despair to possibilities. This kind of course work needs to also embody positions that help teacher-candidates realize margins. This realization can take place through understanding feminist epistemology that calls for "in the middle of either or" positioning. In being exposed to such line of thinking, teacher-candidates will be able to realize the different selves they inhabit yet never had conscious access to. Learning about their multiplicity, might help them become more aware of the multiplicity their students46.
Another suggestion is related to providing learning opportunities within the university work for teacher-candidates to practice self-reflection and criticism. This needs to be done with a self-loving perception supported by a loving perception of the teacher running the course47. This self-reflection can provide chances for the realization of their multiplicity
46To suggest that all student-candidates will be able to understand their students' multiplicity or their own through this kind of exposure and knowledge will be very idealistic and patriotic. I, however, believe that at least some of the teacher-candidates will be able to wonder and get surprised through this exposure. I also believe that reform and transformation should/will start somewhere with someone who can inspire others to follow.
47 One of my experiences in one of my graduate courses triggered my suggestion. This experience took place through coalition work with my colleagues in the class. This kind of work gave me opportunities for self- Possibilities For New Beginnings 86 and points of resistance and hence make the acceptance of the diversity of their students easier. On this, Ford suggests that teacher- candidates need to develop questioning strategies that invite ground-shaking revelations of the full and active lives students put aside in order to be in class. To her, they are encouraged to invite students' narratives, their own involvements in cultural events, and collaborative projects in varied communities.48 Greene (1995) asserts and confirms Ford's suggestion when she writes on the importance of providing spaces within the existing disciplines. She writes:
There have to be disciplines, yes, and a growing acquaintance with the structures of
knowledge, but at the same time, there have to be the kinds of grounded interpretation
possible only to those willing to abandon already constituted reason, willing to feel and
to imagine, willing to open the window and search (p. 104).
Therefore, university work needs to give opportunities for teacher-candidates to reflect on situations when they realize the existence of oppressive practices. This is to help them become more political and take action in spaces that they usually take for granted. To
Greene (1995),
We must not evade, deny, or take for granted such actualities, that we must not be
willing to remain passive, to coincide forever with ourselves. We must instead, seek
more shocks or awareness as time goes on, more explorations, more adventures into
meaning, more active and uneasy participation (p. 151). reflection that got me to learn about my own "impurity" and multiplicity. Moreover, this work gave me the chance to accept my differences and reactions towards others with wonder and surprise. This enriching experience was successful because of the loving perception of the professor facilitating the process.
48 For a full range of suggestions, refer to Maureen Ford's article "Knowing Differently Situated
Others: Teachers and Arrogant Perception". Possibilities For New Beginnings 87
Teachers of teacher-candidates need to realize that a new pedagogy is required, one that helps provide shocking reflective opportunities for their students to help them challenge what is taken for granted whether it is "ideas of hierarchy, of deserved deficits, of delayed gratification" (p. 151).
Suggestions for Work at the School Level
This part focuses on ideas related to the themes presented in this thesis. Some of the ideas presented emphasize the importance of dialogue and reflection, imagination, and sharing perspectives in a classroom context. These are important pedagogies for teaching as social agency.
Creating contexts for connection. I believe that teaching assumes responsibility towards the ones we teach, those whose "identity is contingent on the existence of humane communities" (Greene, 1995, p. 41). Therefore it is unavoidably important for us, existing teachers, to create contexts that "nurture for all the children the sense of worthiness and agency" (p. 41), contexts that allow students to break through the conventional. Greene, nevertheless, reminds teachers that they, themselves, need to "experience breaks with what has been established in [their] lives...[and] keep arousing [themselves] to begin again"(p.l09). Providing connections of the sort in the classroom context brings forth an imperative component for this work, i.e. classroom dialogue. Freire (1970/2007) asserts that a "critical dialogue" is the correct method for liberation.
Teachers' and students' dialogue and narratives. To Freire, teachers need to know how to bring about the kind of dialogue that opens scopes of understanding multiples of perspectives and makes "traveling" into each others' worlds possible. Greene (1995) affirms that when teaching for social agency; Possibilities For New Beginnings 88
I want to make the perspective of my students available so that both I and they can see
from many vantage points, make sense from different sides. I want us to work together
to unconceal what is hidden [and] to contextualize what happens to us, to mediate the
dialectic that keeps us on edge, that may be keeping us alive (p. 115).
To be able to unconceal the hidden, especially in contexts where the availability of reflecting on one's world through literature is not always a possibility, personal narratives are important as they help students look for the "meaning of their lives, to find out how things are happening and to pose questions about the why" (p. 165). To Freire, such experiences allow students to connect to their own history and provide a ground for commonalities. However teachers need to be aware of the sensitivities that come along sharing narratives. Therefore, Greene asserts that when sharing narratives, imagination and empathy are very important, especially in situations "where some voices are dominant while others are silenced" (Marken, 2007, p. 79). On this point Marken cites Greene
(1995);
the learner must approach from the vantage point of her or his lived situation, that is,
in accord with a distinctive point of view and interest.. .it may well be the imaginative
capacity that allows us also to experience empathy with different points of view, even
with interests apparently at odds with ours. Imagination may be a new way of
decentering ourselves, of breaking out of the confinements of.. .self-regard into a space
where we can come face to face with others and call out, "here we are." (Greene, 1995,
p. 31).
Moreover, Marken prompts teachers to pay attention to the variety of students in his/her classroom. She cites Razzack (1998), when she writes about the many times Possibilities For New Beginnings 89 oppressed students choose to resort to silence instead of sharing stories. To them, "telling a personal story can be terrifying if the student thinks that the listener will not hear their story with empathy, imagination, and compassion"(p. 75). Therefore teachers willing to listen to students are to provide contexts in which all students in the classroom are engaged in dialogue accompanied with critical reflection, especially students whose own
'silences' suggest the least amount of possibilities for contribution49. Teachers' imagination and their "willingness to listen to the 'silences' in their classroom are imperative if [they] wish to both educate and emancipate students" (p. 46).
Reflection and problem-posing. In talking and/or listening to narratives, both the social agent educator along with his/her students delve into the realities of the worlds of others and those of their own. Whether students choose to talk or just listen, the experiences of others provide them with the realization of the commonalities their stories, histories, and life patterns have with others and decrease the feeling of alienation and despair. Moreover, sharing stories allows the educator, the chance to pose problems that stem from the reality of their students50. Such dialogue and problem-posing strategies enhance enquiry. Therefore, it is important for the liberator educator to introduce to his/her students "ways of explaining, judging, schematizing, drawing inferences, and
49 Marken gives examples in her thesis on how she prepares her students for proper dialogue. Some examples given are on the ways they listen and talk with each other. For more examples, refer to her thesis cited in the reference list.
50 It is important to mention here that sharing stories should not be limited to the ones that are told by students about themselves. They can be stories from the immediate local news, cultural ones, stories on issues mentioned on TV programs etc... It is crucial that the educator liberator encourages this alternative kind of sharing to personal one as it provides another arena for shy and hesitant students. Possibilities For New Beginnings 90 analyzing. Moreover, the validations of any mode of inquiry ought to be found in its contribution to the life of meaning and to communications in the intersubjective world
(Greene, 1995, p. 182). It is important to mention here that Freire's suggestion for problem-posing is not limited to the teacher educator posing a problem for the learner. To him, the goal is for the learners to get into the habit of realizing the problems on their own, critically reflecting and acting on them. This is when they become the agents for their own liberation.
Examples on Reflection and Perspective Taking
Some of the examples mentioned here are elicited from personal experiences as a teacher and learner. As a teacher, I used role-playing to help my elementary students verbalize their stories or share a problem. We either used puppets (when students were too young), or took different roles and names (according to their discretion). The choice of topics was either related to an issue of concern (to a whole group or a few students), or one that reflects a current situation in the social/political context. For example, when decisions were taken (either at the administrative level or teachers' level) that students were not pleased with, we role-played both administrators/teacher and students and allowed both perspectives to surface. Getting the opportunity to talk about and hear perspectives they are not comfortable with allows students' reflection at both individual and collective levels.
Another example of ways to initiate dialogue and reflection in the classroom is through having "morning meetings" at all grade levels in a school. Although morning meetings incorporate many components, the major focus of this strategy is getting the group together. Although I used to allocate the longest part for sharing issues and Possibilities For New Beginnings 91 concerns, emphasis on good listening skills and talking preceded and continued throughout the sessions. Moreover, "weekly meeting agendas" provided another rich arena for dialogue. This is where students write down problems they face, personal, social, or academic, on a big chart paper and at the end of the week sharing takes place. The whole community (students, sometimes visiting teacher colleagues) share suggestions and reflections on the situations while emphasizing support and empathy. This was an exercise that enhanced students' and teachers' imaginations and ownership as they not only get the chance to step beyond their worlds into those of others but got the chance to verbalize their concern to their peers through the suggestions they make. Marken (2007) shares:
To teach a group how to sympathetically hear a story is my primary objective during
a group reflection. I no longer focus all of my attention on encouraging shy students
to talk; rather, my attention is focused on teaching the other students how to listen. I
invite all students to listen to every shared story with both empathy and the
imaginative capacity to enter into the protagonist's shoes. By explicitly stating this
ideal and by continuously reminding students to engage their social imagination while
listening to the stories of others, I solicit the creation of an inclusive classroom culture
(p. 74).
Work at the Community Level
Many of the ideas on dialogue, problem-posing, and imagination mentioned by Freire and Greene are applicable at the community level. However, in his work, Freire makes it explicit that the liberator educator's work is not limited to the school level, as to him, education is a community endeavour and has to take place at the level of the people (the oppressed and marginalized). I will, thus, make few suggestions for work that can be done Possibilities For New Beginnings 92 in collaboration between school and home, or with the community at large. I, again, resort to personal experiences.
Although at the beginning of my teaching career, and out of fear of what I might have to know, hear, and face when I became more involved with the parents of my students, I kept a distance However, and through listening to the students' narratives, I learned that to be able to have a good understanding of their worlds, I need to hear their parents too.
Hence, I established a book club group with parents and with ten of them, we started with a book that helped us understand the emotional and social lives of children. Throughout this process, we met and shared stories, concerns, and ideas that helped me learn about their world, my world, and their children's51.
Opening up to the community, whether that of students, neighbours, relatives etc.; hearing their stories, sharing their concerns, listening to cultural myths, and moments of pain and pleasure, allows empathy, understanding, and communication to take place.
Freire believes that such experiences allow educators the chance to love others in our shared world.
However, and even if the love of others is possible through imagination, there are some limits based on our contextual differences, understandings, and experiences.
Campbell (1988) writes that when we use imagination in understanding the worlds of others, our experiences are significantly different from each other and our ability to imagine is skewed by our social conditioning and by the powers that we are aware of.
51 This is not to say that all parents are easy going and positive. This is just an example that shows changes of perspectives not only to me as a teacher but to parents who worry about teachers as well. Through listening and sharing, we both got the chance to understand more of each others' worlds. However, this does not exclude the presence of very difficult parents who won't have anything to do with education. Possibilities For New Beginnings 93
However, she suggests that" although our imagination as an individual meets its limits, I
can turn to the stories of those very different 'others' through talking to them directly and
listening attentively to their stories, and through [when possible] reading (and viewing)
their experiences in the literary work of novelists, playwrights, poets, and filmmakers. I
see hope in the intersubjective activities of talking, listening, and reading..." (p. 15). This
is very similar to the kind of imagination that Maxine Greene (1995) calls for as an
important component to social agency and liberation, an imagination that has to "awaken,
to disclose the ordinarily unseen, unheard, and unexpected" (p. 28).
Section Three
Reflections and Conclusions
Choosing the thesis topic, "Oppression, Social Agency, and Liberation" started as a result of a quest to understand oppression and feelings of despair I sensed in the teaching realm. Moreover, my belief in the importance of agency and responsibility of teachers constituted the reasons for looking at the philosophical justification for teaching as social
agency. The work of Freire and Greene supported my quest and constructed my conclusion. Analyzing Freire's work on oppression and the ability for liberation through education asserted my belief in resistance and refusal of despair. The role of the liberator educator in Freire's work along with the many examples I encountered and still encountering at both the university and school levels asserted the search for justifications for such liberating work. Greene's work on agency and responsibility of educators resonates with the search for a new beginning in the context of lives lived under difficult situations. Greene's usage of literature to enhance imagination revealed to me that things could be otherwise and conceptually shed light at a space I never "imagined" existed. Possibilities For New Beginnings 94
Reflecting on contextual backgrounds similar to the one the thesis started with i.e. the
Lebanese context, I found limitations that can impact the justification for teaching as
social agency in both Freire's and Greene's work. Consequently, I looked for a resolution
and suggested Maria Lugones' position of "in between either or." Although this position
does not take the extreme limits of the either/or (oppressed or oppressor), it is also not a
middle position. It is a position of resistance of the status quo. When combined with
Freire's and Greene's common ground, this position asserts that teaching for social agency
in situations of oppression and despair can be justified. However, and in trying to apply
those ideas to the practical world of teaching, I suggested the characteristics of loving
perception, wonder, and surprise for the social agent educator and liberator. I also gave
examples of how such work might look like at the university level, in the school context,
and within the community.
However, I am aware that such work might become another kind of ideology which
would seem, to teachers, disconnected from reality. This particularly applies when
teachers are immersed with the everyday life of lesson planning and family obligations,
leaving little or no time for self reflection, group gatherings, and community work. I am
also aware of the limitations that exist within the school context itself, whether those limitations are related to the social/political contexts, or to the amount of indifference that is dominant. Moreover, even with many educators who are willing to participate in the change, the lack of time during classroom scheduling might be a reason to prevent them from doing things differently.
The characteristics attributed to the liberator educator in this thesis might seem to be overwhelming for educators, or might seem opposable, idealistic and a presentation of a Possibilities For New Beginnings 95 farfetched dream. This is related to the difficulty of balancing the work suggested for liberator educator with the demands of their personal lives and their careers.
Another aspect of the limitation of this work might stems from the position I suggest i.e. the combination of the common ground taken on Freire's and Greene's work with the positioning of "in the middle of either/or." Caution of this position emerges from the possibility of it turning into yet another rigid extreme presenting itself as another kind of domination and fragmentation.
In spite of the above mentioned, I want to assert that this thesis constitutes a promising hope. For a change, the idealistic notions presented come from teacher to teacher! If education for the best of our children does not entail visions for idealistic dreams, change cannot occur and despair will dominate. Without the emotional, the personal, and the uniqueness of who we are, education becomes another act of alienation.
Freire asserts that when he writes, "I could never treat education as something cold, mental, merely technical, and without a soul, where feelings, sensibility, desires, and dreams had no place, as if repressed by reactionary dictatorship" (Freire, 1998, p. 129).
I am also aware that some of the themes presented in this thesis could benefit from more elaboration and extensive philosophical analysis; some of which can be related to the connection of the educator liberator and the power struggles within the educational system. Although the positioning of "in the middle of either/or" presented a resolution to the dilemma of taking one of the extremes (oppressed or oppressor), further work is needed in this area specifically when taking into consideration the struggles that might, also, take place in the positioning I suggest (struggles among teachers, policy makers, administrators, etc.). Possibilities For New Beginnings 96
I also suggest a more detailed work on the teachers' struggles with the system.
Further investigation can look at the level of impact the system has on the liberator educator's perception of their roles whether in the classroom or/and the community. This leads me to yet another need for investigation that this thesis initiates, i.e. the meaning of responsibility in education.
This thesis creates a need to further investigate the complexity of the meaning of responsibility in education. Although I believe in the importance of teachers' responsibility and social agency, the meaning of responsibility in connection to teachers' ethical/religious stance is an area that is worth researching. Even more, the concept of imagination can be investigated from an ethical perspective known as "ethical imagination" (Somerville, 2006). More work on the meaning and connections of ethical imagination to education can be done.
Final Thoughts
I would like to conclude this thesis by asserting my position for the need and belief in teaching for social agency as it surpasses the immediate situation of oppression. I call for the kind of imagination that creates anxiety and discomfort which accompany a solid need for beginnings. I call for troubling feelings of ease and settlement provided to us through belonging to distinct groups. I suggest a common philosophical ground for teaching social agency, one that constitutes imagination, critical dialogue, self reflection all combined with a position of "in the middle of either/or." I suggest adopting the resistance of the impure, the curdled and heterogeneous to assert the multiplicity of teachers as social agents and enhance creativity and imagination. Possibilities For New Beginnings 97
However, in inviting teachers to such positions and in highlighting problems created through taking one space and not the other, my intention is not to call for another type of contentment. My intention is an invitation for a continuous anxiety that enhances the process of "unfinishedness," a process that "gives rise to a permanent movement of searching, of curious interrogation....and learning not only to adapt to the world to re create, and to transform it" (Freire, 1998, p. 66). Even if this view makes me an idealist, my passion for this vision stems from a hope for a better time and future for the young people we teach and live with, people who are like us in the "making." I end with a quote from Freire that perfectly articulates what I am calling for, he writes:
It is impossible for me to think of my dream without thinking of those who are not yet
in the world. I have to have this strange feeling to love those who have not yet come, in
order to prepare. It is a collective practice, and it means that the presence of those who
are alive today is important. Those who come tomorrow will start acting, precisely
taking what we did as a starting point. This is how history can be made...We are
creating the future by the formation of the present (Freire, 1990, p. 191). Possibilities For New Beginnings
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