Education and Social Change - A Photographic Study of Peru

Publisher:  Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.,, Whitby, Canada
Year Published:  1980
Pages:  400pp   Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX2227

Abstract: 
This document describes with photographs and words the use of popular education to develop critical social consciousness and to mobilize people for social change. The particular case is the literacy program in the urban migrant communities of Lima, Peru; the educational orientation explored is the problem-posing methodology of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. Over 400 photographs are integral to this text, which attempts both visually and verbally to connect the personal views of migrant women in one literacy class to the socio-historical context which shapes their lives. The dynamics between individual and society, between action and reflection, are moven throughout.

The book is written for community workers, educators and researchers who are interested in linking their work with people and groups to broader social movements. This document is also designed for visual anthropologists and documentary photographers (through its use of photographs as tools for critical social purposes); collective photo-stories and filmed socio-drama are among the methods described. Photographs are juxtaposed to raise social questions, rather than to illustrate or to answer. The author is a sociologist and photographer, teacher and researcher, working with the Participatory Research Project of the International Council for Adult Education in Toronto, Ontario.