During this COVID-19 time, ENP has had to shift some of the projects our interns are working on. One of the projects we gave our Pink House Intern, Austin Hussain was to read a book and write a short review. We wanted to share his reflections and recommend to you the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. This book has influenced the way that ENP thinks through its community development work as well as how we facilitate meetings and trainings.

‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire is a well-thought-out, in-depth analysis of lifting entire communities up as an organic movement starting from inside them. It’s certainly a book I will return to time and again as a reference point for pursuing healthy and helpful change in oppressed communities.

A key that is highlighted over and over again is how important it is that ideas and movements start from within a community. From the problem-posing model of education to the dialogical approach of problem solving, Freire suggests educating the oppressed and giving them the tools to not only notice their own predicament but to do something about it. This is the most important theme for me, especially as someone from the oppressor class. I struggled for quite some time to see what role I could play in restoration and development without acting like a “savior,” so hearing from Freire about how to try these much more organic methods of education and problem solving is incredibly helpful.

Another idea that Freire touches on later in the book is the idea of praxis – combining theory/reflection with action. One without the other is ineffective at best and tragically misleading at worst. I have found so many people (including myself) lean heavily towards one more than the other, but it is so critical to first assess where any group of oppressed is before marching forward to freedom. Not only this, but repeating the cycle after each step of action. This does take a lot of work, and it is only possible if the entire group is educated so that all can play a role instead of looking to one leader to run the whole show.

It has been extremely encouraging as a straight, white, upper-middle-class man to read something as critically analytical as Pedagogy of the Oppressed and be able to see my role in restoration more clearly. Before reading this, I had many ideas, but they all felt pretty disjointed. I’m not sure exactly where God has me in His plans for restoration and development quite yet, but this book is a tremendous bedrock for me to look back on to understand the whole picture of liberation and where I fit into it.’

– Austin Hussain, ENP Intern