This Book Will Present Some Aspects Of

Experience Teaches Us Not To Assume That The Obvious Is Clearly Understood

The Behavior And Reactions Of The Oppressed, Which Lead The Oppressor To Practice Cultural Invasion, Should Evoke From The Revolutionary A Different Theory Of Action. What Distinguishes Revolutionary Leaders From The Dominant Elite Is Not Only Their Objectives, But Their Procedures.

How Can The Oppressed, As Divided, Unauthentic Beings, Participate In Developing The Pedagogy Of Their Liberation? Only As They Discover Themselves To Be 'hosts' Of The Oppressor Can They Contribute To The Midwifery Of Their Liberating Pedagogy. As Long As They Live In The Duality In Which To Be Is To Be Like And To Be Like Is To Be Like The Oppressor, This Contribution Is Impossible. The Pedagogy Of The Oppressed Is An Instrument For Their Critical Discovery That Both They And Their Oppressors Are Manifestations Of Dehumanization.

An Unauthentic Word, One Which Is Unable To Transform Reality, Results When Dichotomy Is Imposed Upon Its Constitutive Elements. When A Word Is Deprived Of Its Dimension Of Action, Reflection Automatically Suffers As Well; And The Word Is Changed Into Idle Chatter, Into Verbalism, Into An Alienated And Alienating “blah.” It Becomes An Empty Word, One Which Cannot Denounce The World, For Denunciation Is Impossible Without A Commitment To Transform, And There Is No Transformation Without Action.

This Is The Road I Have Tried To Follow As A Teacher: Living My Convictions; Being Open To The Process Of Knowing And Being Sensitive To The Experience Of Teaching As An Art; Being Pushed Forward By The Challenges That Prevent Me From Bureaucratizing My Practice; Accepting My Limitations, Yet Always Conscious Of The Necessary Effort To Overcome Them And Aware That I Cannot Hide Them Because To Do So Would Be A Failure To Respect Both My Students And Myself As A Teacher.