Educational activism in Brazil

Client:: Brazilian Education Activists

Birmingham City University and the University of East Anglia are currently engaged in a collaborative research project with Brazilian education activists for whom critical pedagogy and popular education pedagogy are harnessed to facilitate a critical, politically engaged education processes for social change.

CSPACE held a research seminar on Wednesday 11May 2016 which showcased the work of Brazilian educators visiting from Fortaleza in the state of Ceara, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Dra Maria das Dores and Dra. Jackline:Rabelo: ‘The World Bank and its consequences for Education in Brail and Latin America.
Dra Sandra Maria y Dr Luís TavoraFurtado Ribeiro: ‘Universities, Social Movements and Social Transformation’.
Dr Paolo Vittoria: ‘The implications for education of the threatened parliamentary coup in Brazil today

We welcomed our Brazilian colleagues back to continue the face-to-face dialogue begun last year. This dialogue explores possibilities and constraints for alternative education processes in, against and beyond the neoliberal university in the current challenging context where the governing Brazilian Workers’ Party faces a ‘parliamentary coup’ whilst, at the same time, progressive social movements like the Landless Movement (The Movement of Rural Landless People or MST—Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) have developed impressively well organised bottom up processes of educational change that seeks to build social movements to improve the lives of, amongst others, the rural landless people.

More information about Brazil's Landless Movement

Message and pictures from the Brazilian colleagues (in Portuguese)

I wanted to thank you both very much first for inviting me to the seminar and then for the seminar itself. Collectivity, solidarity and dialogue... wonderful!

Participant