Our homeland is humanity: The Cuban School of Literacy and Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Authors: Bob Boughton & Deborah Durnan

Edition: Volume 61, Number 3, November 2021

Introduction: The ideas of the Cuban ‘School of Literacy’ are much less well-known in the west than Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. This paper is an exploration of the theoretical and practical links between these two historic examples of popular education. The analysis is informed by our direct experience working and undertaking participatory action research alongside Cuban literacy specialists on adult literacy campaigns in Timor-Leste and Australia. These campaigns utilised a model known internationally by its Spanish name, Yo, Sí Puedo (Eng: Yes, I Can!). We also include material from interviews in Cuba with leading literacy academics and practitioners.

Keywords: Paulo Freire, popular education, adult literacy campaigns, Cuba, Yo, Sí Puedo, Timor-Leste, First Nations education

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 61:3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.