Freire's Conscientization, Dialogue, And Liberation: Personal Reflections on Classroom Discussions of Marginality

Abstract

Using Freire's notions of conscientization, dialogue, and liberation, the author reflects on how he has engaged a student-centered dialogue in his teaching in general and in discussions of sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia in particular. More specifically, he examines how this dialogic process enables his students and himself to (re)discover ways in which they can liberate themselves by exposing normalizing discourses and dominant ideologies, examining the relationship between oppressor and oppressed, shifting from object to subject positions, and (re)negotiating power relations.