[Book Review] Pedagogue of liberation by John L. Elias

Abstract

That Paulo Freire is still being regarded as "one of the most significant educators of the latter of the twentieth century" (p. 151) is partly evinced by the huge amount of secondary literature on his work that continues to emerge. Besides two new books by Freire and a re-publication of his best known work in inclusive language, we have witnessed, during the last couple of years, a number of volumes in which appraisals of his work are provided from a variety of standpoints. We have had two edited collections of essays on Freire analyzing his work in relation to such fields as critical pedagogy, feminism, cultural studies and critical social work (McLaren & Leonard 1993; McLaren & Lankshear 1994), another publication focusing on his ideas concerning higher education, an introductory book by Moacir Gadotti (originally published in Portuguese), and two full length studies on his pedagogical and social ideas (Taylor 1993; Elias 1994). And theres are other books in the pipeline. There have also been books on education and social theory which, though not dealing specifically with Freire, provide extensive exposure of and engagement with his ideas (i.e., Shor 1992). During these years, we have also had our usual quota of single chapters in edited books and papers in journals, not to mention the submission of more graduate and undergraduate level dissertations dealing with his work.