It is Sunday night. I'm listening to Andrew Osenga's Souvenir's & Postcards album and loving every second of it. Yesterday was a huge study day so that we could all go over to this one girl's house from our program- her name is Faith.
I wanted to blog about the book mentioned in the title but I honestly didn't finish it (opps..) so I'm not sure that I'm qualified. However I did read 3/4 of it before class on Thursday and particularly enjoyed the first half of the book.
For a bio on the author (which actually may be of interest)- click here.
As a background, the author talks about the oppressed and the oppressor (from his 1940's Brazilian perspective) and how there's some of each in everyone...that when the oppressed escape their situation they only know how to be an oppressor because its all they've known. The solution to this is educate the oppressed using oppressed-led dialogical methods that help them become fully human...as it were.
Here's a taste:
"Solidarity requires that one enter into the situation of those with whom one is solidary; it is a radical posture...true solidarity with the oppressed means fighting at their side to transform the objective reality which has made these 'beings for another'".
"To affirm that men and women are persons and as persons should be free, and yet to do nothing tangible to make this affirmation a reality, is a farce"
"The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They can not see that, in the egoistic pursuit of having as possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have".
"Any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence"
"The truth is, however, that the oppressed are not 'marginals,' are not people living 'outside' society. They have always been 'inside'- inside the structure which made them 'beings for others.' The solution is not to 'integrate' them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so they can become 'beings for themselves'".
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2 comments:
everything you are studying sounds so interesting to me! I am currently taking a course on "women and development". lots of things to learn, that's for sure.
i hope this question doesn't come across the wrong way, but i was wondering: what are the strengths and weaknesses of studying international development from a distinctly christian perspective? Are there any drawbacks?
(i think of the history of colonialism etc... is it hard to position your studies considering the reality of history with the current challenges of development? and how do you help improve the lives of others without necessarily jeopardizing their culture, without presupposing yours is more excellent? including religious differences... you know?)
...i was just wondering how your program approached that. haha - i know that's a huge question to leave as a comment. (i went to christian school as a kid, and i'm definitely pro-christian education, by the way)
hope all is well in philly. tres funny you go to church with ron sider. angela.
i think i'll send an email...great questions-- we talk about these things in almost every class- how do we make sure we're not coming in as the one's with the answers?- because that immediately separates the parties into the haves and the have nots...those who 'know' and those who are incapable of knowing...which is incredibly demeaning and doesn't promote empowerment...
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