Developing critical education thought in community development: the Freirean approach in Japan

Abstract

If we use words from Freirean thought, we can find “indigenous Freirean thought” in each country. This paper discussed critical education theory’s maturing process during Japan’s modernization process and analyzed the conditions for creating an alternative community, based on an emancipatory learning practice. In East Asian countries, modernization process exposed its inherent violence and exploitative nature. In Japan, critical researchers on education have been looking for the conditions of establishing a learning theory for emancipation under this process. The deconstruction of people’s underlying consciousness that was formed during the modernization process was considered as one of necessary conditions by the researchers. In this context, community was proposed as a tool for decoding conflict among the oppressed people. Here, we can find the same approach as Freire. Furthermore, the case study on the experience of community education in Yamagata farmer’s college revealed a double bind, which was generated by conscientization of the contradiction of self. It is an essential moment for creating a community, and making judgment of social directionality clear. It is safe to say the experiences of community learning in East Asian countries have a possibility of creating an alternative critical theory of education.