Step by step

Quatro eixos revelam a vida e a obra de um dos mais estudados pensadores da educação no mundo

An interactive map at the end of the exhibit shows all the places around the world that were impacted by Paulo Freire’s work. Before getting to this map, visitors walk through the educator's life in displays that begin with his birth and education, then his successful experience in Angicos, his forced exile for 16 years, and his return to Brazil, where he continued to dedicate to education until 1997, the year of his death. Follow the step by step here.

BACKGROUND – 1921 TO 1963

On September 19, 1921, Paulo Reglu Neves Freire is born in the Casa Amarela neighborhood, city of Recife, state of Pernambuco. In 1937, he is granted a scholarship to attend secondary school at Colégio Oswaldo Cruz, where he became a Portuguese language teacher – his first experience with teaching. In 1943, he starts law school at Faculdade de Direito do Recife, where he graduates in 1947. Despite attending this course, he gives up working as a lawyer.  

This part of the Occupancy shows Freire's northeastern origins, with an emphasis on his childhood, his family, and the house where he was born and learned to read and write, in Recife – where he used to sit under the shade of a mango tree and wrote his first words using sticks. His identity and northeastern origins are emphasized until the end of his life.  

In addition to his intellectual development, it shows his first experiences. Among them are important moments at SESI, the University of Recife – which is now called the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) – and his participation in the Popular Culture Movement of Recife.  There are many moments recorded in this area of the exhibit. For example, his marginalia – notes in books from his private library, the so-called “pre-exile” library.  

ANGICOS – 1960 TO 1964

In 1962, Paulo Freire and dean João Alfredo create the Cultural Extension Service of the University of Recife, in Pernambuco. As a pioneer initiative, it is the first systematic activity of university extension in Brazil. 
  
In the same year, the educator begins to work with adult literacy. The Paulo Freire method is applied at Centro Dona Olegarinha, in Poço da Panela, Recife. In 1963, his educational practice reaches its first milestone: the so-called “40 horas de Angicos” (40 hours of Angicos), which is the name of the Rio Grande do Norte town where about 300 people learned to read and write in 40 hours using Freire's method. The success of this experience inspires other projects in the country.  

This part of the Occupancy brings together a unique and expressive set of documents and images related to Angicos and the literacy experience. This space exhibits materials related to the training of educators involved in the action and other materials produced in the pedagogical elaboration of the proposal, in addition to those used directly in literacy meetings, and written and photographic records.

It also highlights documents on the National Literacy Plan and other applications of the Paulo Freire Literacy System – the planning of culture circles throughout the country, documents related to the applications of literacy experiences in different locations in Brazil resulting from and/or inspired by the experience in Angicos, such as: Acre, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, and the Federal District.

EXILE – 1964 TO 1980

In 1964, the civil-military regime forces Paulo Freire into a long period of exile that started in Chile, where he dedicated himself a lot to writing. There, he wrote, among other texts, his best-known book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. His years abroad were also lived in the United States and in Switzerland. In 1970, when he publishes the book he had written in Chile, he becomes a professor at the University of Geneva. Between 1975 and 1979, he worked at the Cultural Action Institute (IDAC) and led education and literacy programs in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe.   

In this part of the exhibit, there are documents from different moments in other countries during the exile of Paulo Freire, from leaving Brazil, passing through Bolivia and settling in Chile, where he would live for some important years. It also has documents and images, such as the poster and guidelines for posters used in the literacy experience, which refer to Chile during his exile – he was a consultant and collaborator for the development of literacy actions in the country.    

In the exhibit space, there is an animation handwritten pages of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. To illustrate his routine during that period, the Occupancy shows a photo of him working in his office and a record of his notes.  

After Chile, Paulo Freire lived in the United States for a year, and in 1970 he arrived in Switzerland, where he lived until his definitive return to Brazil in 1980. There he worked for the World Council of Churches and founded the Cultural Action Institute (IDAC) with other exiled people. Among other documents, the Occupancy presents the notebooks produced by IDAC related to the institution's action. It also displays notebooks related to literacy actions carried out in São Tomé and Príncipe that mark the stay of the educator in the African continent. 

RETURN – 1980 TO 1997

With the amnesty in 1980, Paulo Freire returns to Brazil and starts teaching at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC/SP). In 1986, he receives the Prize for Peace Education from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Three years later, in 1989, he becomes the municipal secretary of education, under Luiza Erundina's administration as mayor of São Paulo. In 1991, the Paulo Freire Institute is created, also in São Paulo, and, a year later, his book Pedagogy of Hope is published.  

Paulo Freire died in May 1997, at the age of 75, one year after the publication of Pedagogy of Autonomy, his last work. His undeniable legacy for the education in Brazil and in the world granted him the posthumous title of Patron of the Brazilian Education on April 13, 2012.  

This part of the exhibit concludes the Occupancy and reveals the internationalization of Paulo Freire with several records that refer to his time at PUC, Unicamp – in these two as a professor – and USP, as a guest.  It also brings together various materials produced by the Municipal Secretariat of Education, from the time when he was the secretary under the administration of Mayor Luiza Erundina. They include a variety of items, such as training materials for educators and drafts for bills that provided for better working conditions. Other materials are those used for the dissemination of specific actions, such as the creation and/or reactivation of school councils, always based on the democratic management proposed by Freire.  

Among the manuscripts exhibited are those from Pedagogy of Hope, a review of his own work. Paulo Freire had started a text to review his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, but in the process he came up with a new book. His openness to review his work, the critical and humble attitude with himself, and his ideas are Paulo Freire’s hallmark. Pedagogy of Autonomy was the last book he wrote. The educator tried to develop with the publisher a cheap book so that it could be bought and read by as many teachers as possible.

An interactive exhibit named Paulo Freire around the world shows all the places that Freire has reached with his work – Honoris Causa degrees, the cities where he worked, research on him and his work, including professorships, Academic Centers, institutes, and research groups, homages, honorary citizenships, awards, medals, event commemorative plaques, trophies, various certificates, honor decorations, school names, among others.  

From September 18th to December 5th

Itaú Cultural
Avenida Paulista, 149 – close to Brigadeiro subway station.
Multipurpose Room – 2nd Floor

Tickets:
free 

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