**4. The liberating popular education**

What do we mean by "liberating popular education"? We conceived the idea of "popular liberating education" as a pedagogical concept articulated with a social and political reality transformation project, going beyond the two social paradigms of West European modernity—capitalism and socialism—though it might include some of the equity and justice principles from the latter. Popular education makes explicit a pedagogical concept committed to overcoming the oppression and inequity that prevail in popular classes. It is a pedagogical practice with the intent of building a pedagogical project of liberating a people (or a community) from its cultural or environmental reality, in a dialogically shared literacy-awareness educational process; a pedagogical practice promoting some liberating intellectual empowerment, enabling the subjects in the educational process to have a critical reading of the world, without resorting to ideological indoctrination, so that learners will be intellectually fit to

make their political choices for a world endowed with more fairness, solidarity, and welcoming, for a respectful intercultural and interethnical coexistence.

by The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), and a third one in 2004, by the

What do we see in the "thoughts of the Indian educated in the Colombian forests"? Quintín Lame characterizes nature as a mother and master of divine origin; he explicits a conception of otherness, differences between Indians and white men. He learned the Spanish language as a strategy to accuse the oppression of his people. As Martha Elena Carvajal points out, *Quintín Lame, like the vast majority of American Indians, in tune with his legacy cosmic vision, feels, sees, and conceives nature, in itself and in the land, as his mother; and just like the actual Peace Indians, Nature is his "nasa kiwe," his motherland* [21]. It explicits a concept of "natural education," emphasizing

Quintín Lame says he did not receive the schooling intended for non-Indians; and he knew that this education represented prestige and access to the modern society knowledge. However, he observes that his "natural education" was and is at least as important as the formal education provided to non-Indians. Grounded on the indigenous people's tradition, Quintín Lame conceives nature as the great master of life. He says that *the little Indian hasn't seen or enjoyed these knowledge or educational principles*. However, he remarks that *Nature has educated me under its shadow, its warmth and its freeze; it has shown me idyllic poetry under those shadows; it has also shown me its three kingdoms—mineral, animal, vegetable; it has taught me to think; it showed me where my office was, in the desert loneliness had given me*. What is the cradle of knowledge, asks Quintín Lame? Nature. And what is nature? Nature, he says, *is the Book of God and the Science* 

Hence either North or South of the Americas, the indigenous people resist as much as they can to the modernity expansionistic project; and modernity/colonialism always comes from either the right or the left. In the scope of—private or public—schooling, school has been a national and global instrument for "shaping" modern subjects, implementing curricular disciplining

What do we mean by "liberating popular education"? We conceived the idea of "popular liberating education" as a pedagogical concept articulated with a social and political reality transformation project, going beyond the two social paradigms of West European modernity—capitalism and socialism—though it might include some of the equity and justice principles from the latter. Popular education makes explicit a pedagogical concept committed to overcoming the oppression and inequity that prevail in popular classes. It is a pedagogical practice with the intent of building a pedagogical project of liberating a people (or a community) from its cultural or environmental reality, in a dialogically shared literacy-awareness educational process; a pedagogical practice promoting some liberating intellectual empowerment, enabling the subjects in the educational process to have a critical reading of the world, without resorting to ideological indoctrination, so that learners will be intellectually fit to

practices that suppress the historical and cultural diversity of the people in *Abya Yala*.

University of Cauca and the Faculty of Humanities of Universidad del Valle [21].

the moral value of an educational philosophy ingrained in nature.

106 New Pedagogical Challenges in the 21st Century - Contributions of Research in Education

*of God is infinite, while the Science of men is limited* [21].

**4. The liberating popular education**

In Bolivia, our chosen educator was Elizardo Pérez (1892–1980), one of the pioneers of liberating pedagogy, in our opinion. Pérez was born in Ayata, Muñecas province, La Paz district. He died at age 88 in Buenos Aires (Argentina). In 1931, he led a "cultural revolution" through one of the most unique pedagogical experiences in Latin America. Under authorization from Bailón Mercado, Minister of Education, and in partnership with the Aimara native Avelino Siñani (1881–1941), he founded the *Ayllu* school in Warizata, an indigenous school whose pedagogical project was inspired in the ancient legacy from the Inca civilization. Pérez conceived the school project convinced that indigenous education should take place in the community and cultural environment where people lived; that the school should become a preservation center for indigenous traditions, and at the same time, it should create solid conditions for the socioeconomic development of the community.3

In his book *Warisata: The ayllu school* (1962), Elizardo Pérez refers to the book *Creation of the National Pedagogy* (1910), by Franz Tamayo (1879–1956), a Bolivian thinker who rebuked importing educational ideas and projects from Europe. Peréz believed that the spirit of the indigenous man had survived, and that the mission of the indigenous school was to bring it to life, "modernizing without giving away traditions, civilize without disrupting its ancient culture and institutions" [22]. His book is an invaluable historic document, as Elizardo Pérez describes one of the most liberating pedagogical experiences in Latin America. He conceived a pedagogical project aligned with the people in *Abya Yala*. His project became viable under the dialogical partnership with the Aimará indigenous master Avelino Siñani *who, with his own knowledge and understanding, and without any official backing, did a pioneer educational job with the children in that region*, as observed by Carlos Soria Galvarro (1981/2014). Elizardo Pérez, points out Soria Galvarro, *acknowledges Avelino Siñani as the true inspiration for Warisata, describing him as an apostle-like figure, an Andean "amauta"* [23].

Warisata was not a casual choice for the *ayllu* school. Elizardo Pérez selected an indigenous territory, far away from both urban centers and the countryside areas where chiefdom by landowners prevailed. The school was collectively and cooperatively built by that very indigenous population, with supplemental resources from the State, Bolivian society friends' associations, Elizardo Pérez's own funds, and building materials donated by the governments of Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico. The architectural design of the *ayllu* school drew admiration and conservative fear, as it was an investment for the indigenous population. It was a two-story building, having an 8000 sq.ft. yard, surrounded by trees and a garden. The design also included a boarding school, with five dormitories hosting 150 beds. Inside, there were five classrooms, five other rooms for offices and storage, plus six workshops for practical classes and production in carpentry, textiles, tapestry, and blacksmithery, as well as canteen, kitchen, and bathroom [24].

<sup>3</sup> The Bolivian indigenous people, like other countries having an expressive indigenous population, has had an endless struggling history. In 1780 there was the Tupac Amaru II rebellion (Tupac Katari), led by the native José Gabriel Condorcanqui against the Spanish colonial system, and in 2000 the Water War in Cochabamba, the first anti-neoliberal revolution in the twenty-first Century.

Since its foundation, the utopic and liberating dimension of the *ayllu* school caused hatred and fearful responses among the Bolivian society rural oligarchs. During all its 9 years of enlivening operation, the *ayllu* school was under permanent threat. Government resources were withdrawn; farmers conspired and connived to hamperthe school's operation, cutting the water supply and rumoring slander that stimulated fear and hatred. Elizardo Pérez was charged of being a communist at the service of the Soviet socialist regime. In 1940–1941, the *ayllu* school in Warizata was dismembered from its original project and ostracized by Bolivian government. In spite of protests from Bolivian society, school management was handed over to men with corrupted moral character and, most of all, people had no respect for the indigenous. Construction work was halted, and parts were demolished; the roof shingles factory was dismantled and taken to La Paz; crop fields, orchards, and gardens were abandoned; livestock (lambs, pigs, poultry) were killed; tool and material storerooms were emptied; electricity supply was disabled, and the furniture vanished; the *Amauta* Parliament was suppressed, and its members were persecuted; the potable water system was destroyed; the new managers occupied the dormitories as if they were owners; natives were thrown out, and a hunting season began, chasing students and parents who were committed to the *ayllu* school's social project [24].

themselves as hosting the oppressor, they'll be able to contribute, by sharing their liberating

Precursors of Decolonial Pedagogical Thinking in Latin America and *Abya Yala*

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72343

109

The oppressed ones' liberation process does not take place upon discovering their condition. In order to refrain from a naive and simplistic vision, Paulo Freire warns that "the structure of your thoughts is conditioned by the contradiction experienced in the actual, concrete, situation in which they come up." For this reason, "their ideal is, indeed, being men; however for them, being men within the contradiction they have always been in, and whose way to

The challenge of the Liberating Pedagogy is more complex than it seems. Oppressive mechanisms pervade the oppressed ones' culture and mentality, while the oppressor clings to material assets and to the politico-economical power that enables him to preserve his family's comfort and perks. In the oppressive cultural environment, the oppressed ones who "host" the oppressor's way of being fear freedom, because the liberating process requires them to fill the void—left after having expelled the oppressorfrom within—with some new content, i.e., "their autonomy." Therefore, for Paulo Freire, freedom behooves responsibility and autonomy; "it requires a relentless search that can only exist in the responsible act of who is performing it" [1]. Paulo Freire also expressed his criticism on conservative education, describing it as "banking education." In the "banking education" practice, the teacher is the subject of knowledge, and the student is the passive object, awaiting that knowledge to be deposited on his mind, empty of history and experience. In the banking school's architecture, students are disciplined to receive, memorize, and repeat content. In the "banking education" practice, there is no chance for intercultural learning, no dialog, and only communication from whoever is labeled as the owner of knowledge. According to Paulo Freire (p 58), "in this distorted view of education, there is no creativity, no transformation, no knowledge"; there is only significantly liberating learning "in invention, reinvention, relentless search, permanent impatience, which men do

As an outcome of the ontological and biological condition of mankind, the human being's vision of the world is "naturally" anthropocentric. However not always, and not in every culture, has man placed himself as a "superior species," relative to nonhuman animals. This is why we consider it important to explicitly trace back the path of such anthropocentrism, and the place this way of thinking occupies in the contemporary process of devastating our planet's environment; at the same time highlighting the new ethical sensitivities, with the

Both anthropocentrism and speciesism are ideologies that justify and legitimate the human species' violence and domination relative to all other nonhuman life forms on our planet. Modern society's "evolution" was paved by speciesism and anthropocentrism. In the ancient Greco-Roman tradition, some philosophers expressed their vision of the world without bestowing a superior position on humans. These ancient philosophers—Pythagoras, Seneca,

intent of overcoming the colonialist dimension of anthropocentric pedagogy.

overcome is not clear, is achieved by being oppressors" [1].

in the world, with the world, and with each other" [25].

**5. Precursors of biocentric education**

pedagogy" [1].

In the popular education field, Brazilian educator Paulo Freire is one of the most acclaimed figures worldwide. His thoughts and works are studied and discussed in many universities, academic conferences, and publications. His literacy-awareness method, conceived in the 1960s, is still used in several countries. All continents welcomed his pedagogical thinking, and many countries set up study and research centers as the Paulo Freire Institute.

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) was born in the city of Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco, in the Northeastern region of Brazil, where the most exploited Brazilian population lives. His best-known book—*Pedagogy of the Oppressed* (1968)—was written in Chile, where he sought refuge from the dictatorship that took over Brazil in 1964. He formulated the *Pedagogy of the Oppressed* theory in the context of the Latin-American military dictatorships and the "Cold War" climate, a time of polarization with major geopolitical impacts, where the invention of Eurocentric-nature terms took place: capitalism and socialism; First World, Second World, and Third World; Developed Countries and Underdeveloped Countries. Paradoxically, the very dictatorship that ousted him from his country also created the conditions for Paulo Freire to get to know the world. It was during his exile that he was introduced to the reality of African and European countries and to the United States.

According to Paulo Freire, as history unfolds, human groups are subject to humanization and dehumanization. Man's ontological condition is humanization, however within an oppressing society that gets its self-affirmation from injustice, exploitation, violence, and domination, such condition is denied. This creates the need to develop a *Pedagogy of the Oppressed,* making it possible "to recover the stolen humanization" [1].

In order to understand the liberating role of the *Pedagogy of the Oppressed*, Paulo Freire highlights two key points: the oppressors' violence also renders them dehumanized, hence "the major historical and humanistic task of the oppressed ones is to liberate both themselves and the oppressors"; and, in order to carry out this liberating role, the oppressed ones must become aware that they "host the oppressor inside themselves," since "only as they perceive

themselves as hosting the oppressor, they'll be able to contribute, by sharing their liberating pedagogy" [1].

The oppressed ones' liberation process does not take place upon discovering their condition. In order to refrain from a naive and simplistic vision, Paulo Freire warns that "the structure of your thoughts is conditioned by the contradiction experienced in the actual, concrete, situation in which they come up." For this reason, "their ideal is, indeed, being men; however for them, being men within the contradiction they have always been in, and whose way to overcome is not clear, is achieved by being oppressors" [1].

The challenge of the Liberating Pedagogy is more complex than it seems. Oppressive mechanisms pervade the oppressed ones' culture and mentality, while the oppressor clings to material assets and to the politico-economical power that enables him to preserve his family's comfort and perks. In the oppressive cultural environment, the oppressed ones who "host" the oppressor's way of being fear freedom, because the liberating process requires them to fill the void—left after having expelled the oppressorfrom within—with some new content, i.e., "their autonomy." Therefore, for Paulo Freire, freedom behooves responsibility and autonomy; "it requires a relentless search that can only exist in the responsible act of who is performing it" [1].

Paulo Freire also expressed his criticism on conservative education, describing it as "banking education." In the "banking education" practice, the teacher is the subject of knowledge, and the student is the passive object, awaiting that knowledge to be deposited on his mind, empty of history and experience. In the banking school's architecture, students are disciplined to receive, memorize, and repeat content. In the "banking education" practice, there is no chance for intercultural learning, no dialog, and only communication from whoever is labeled as the owner of knowledge. According to Paulo Freire (p 58), "in this distorted view of education, there is no creativity, no transformation, no knowledge"; there is only significantly liberating learning "in invention, reinvention, relentless search, permanent impatience, which men do in the world, with the world, and with each other" [25].
