Paulo Freire Legacy

Anita Gurumurthy, Executive Director of IT for Change, delivered the 2nd Paulo Freire Annual Lecture, on September 27, 2023 at Loughborough University London. Her talk, titled 'Conscientization in Times of Cognitive Injustice,’ explored a key Freirean idea in times of AI and the bot.

The lecture, hosted in person at and online, critically examined the AI revolution and its foundational premises, inviting participants to turn to Freire in order to understand how the technicalization of knowledge, today, exhorts the discovery of silences preserved carefully to serve the circuits of cognitive capitalism. “What is the archaeology of consciousness in a post-human society? And how must we act to root out oppression in a new world of brazen injustice?” she asked. ‘’Even as knowledge is made ostensibly more accessible, reordered as it is through AI, reflection and action today demand a process of uncovering the bodies and peoples whose lives are tangled in this (dis)order. Our vision of emancipation must engage with and challenge the meta narrative of AI towards recentering alternative epistemologies.”

The talk was followed by a Q&A session where a highly engaged audience from around the world interacted with Ms. Gurumurthy on a range of topics related to AI, technology, social justice and social change.

The Paulo Freire Annual Lecture, now in its second year, reaffirms the Institute for Media and Creative Industries’ deep interest in exploring the role of Freire’s ideas in the present and future of social change-oriented movements and citizen-driven initiatives. The Institute continues to conduct research that is heavily informed by Freire and engages with practitioners and academics from across the globe in investigating Freire’s ideas in the context of the 21st century and the digital age.

 

About Anita Gurumurthy

Anita Gurumurthy is a founding member and executive director of IT for Change, where she leads research on the platform economy, data and AI governance, democracy in the digital age, and feminist frameworks on digital justice.

Ms. Gurumurthy actively engages in national and international advocacy on digital rights and contributes regularly to academic and media spaces. She serves as advisor and expert on various bodies including the United Nations Secretary-General’s 10-Member Group in support of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, the Paris Peace Forum’s working group on algorithmic governance, Save the Children’s ICT4D Brain Trust, and Minderoo Tech & Policy Lab‘s Board. She also sits on Loughborough University’s Development and Social Change Advisory Board.

Paulo Freire Annual Lecture by Professor Boaventura de Sousa Santos

About this event

The Institute for Media and Creative Industries (IMCI) at Loughborough University London is delighted to announce the launch of the Paulo Freire Annual Lecture that was inaugurated last September 21^st, 2022, by Professor Boaventura de Sousa Santos.

These Lectures will be delivered every year by an esteemed social scientist or activist who carries ideas and practices that resonate with Freire’s legacy. Boaventura de Sousa Santos is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). He has written and published widely on the issues of globalization, sociology of law and the state, epistemology, social movements and the World Social Forum, in Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Danish, Romanian and Polish.

Boaventura de Sousa Santos is Emeritus Director of the Center for Social Studies (CES). He earned an LL.M and J.S.D. from Yale University and holds the Degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, by McGill University.

Sousa Santos’ lecture was preceded by a short message from Nita Freire, widow of Paulo Freire.

You can watch the entire lecture, with Nita Freire’s message and the Q&A session here.

About the annual Paulo Freire Lecture series:

The Paulo Freire Annual Lecture will take place each year in September to coincide with Freire’s birthday. They follow a trajectory of events and publications organized by the IMCI since 2019 and intensified during the celebrations of Freire’s birth centennial in 2021.

Paulo Freire was one of the leading social scientists of the 20th century. Known mostly for his influence in the world of education, his works, written between the 1950s and until his death in 1997, appealed far broader. His humanist approach to life, his philosophy of change and commitment to social justice, and his profound engagement with social practice and action made his widely popular across the social sciences and amongst social movements.

The IMCI is particularly interested in exploring the role of Freire’s ideas in the present and future of social science and of social change-oriented movements and citizen driven initiatives. We continue to conduct research that is heavily informed by Freire and we actively engage with practitioners and academic colleagues from across the globe in investigating how Freire’s ideas transform into the 21st Century and into the digital age.

Publications

The Paulo Freire Annual Lecture will take place each year in September to coincide with Freire’s birthday. They follow a trajectory of events and publications organized by the IMCI since 2019 and intensified during the celebrations of Freire’s birth centennial in 2021.

Paulo Freire was one of the leading social scientists of the 20th century. Known mostly for his influence in the world of education, his works, written between the 1950s and until his death in 1997, appealed far broader. His humanist approach to life, his philosophy of change and commitment to social justice, and his profound engagement with social practice and action made his widely popular across the social sciences and amongst social movements.

The IMCI is particularly interested in exploring the role of Freire’s ideas in the present and future of social science and of social change-oriented movements and citizen driven initiatives. We continue to conduct research that is heavily informed by Freire and we actively engage with practitioners and academic colleagues from across the globe in investigating how Freire’s ideas transform into the 21st Century and into the digital age.

List of works published as outcomes from Loughborough University’s Freire-related activities:

In Portuguese and English:
Citelli, A.; Suzina, A.C. & Tufte, T. Dossier Paulo Freire, 100 anos. Revista Matrizes, v.15, n. 3 (octubre / diciembre de 2021): https://www.revistas.usp.br/matrizes

In English:
Suzina, A.C. & Tufte, T. (2022). Freire and the Perseverance of Hope. Exploring Communication and Social Change. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. https://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/freire-and-the-perseverance-of-hope-exploring-communication-and-social-change/

Suzina, A.C.; Tufte, T. & Jimenez-Martinez, C. Special Issue 2020: Freire’s vision of development and social change – past experiences, present challenges and perspectives for the future. International Communication Gazette, 82: 5, August: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/gazb/82/5

In Spanish and English:
Tufte, T; Jimenez-Martínez, C. & Suzina, A.C. Special Issue 2020: The legacy of Paulo Freire. Roles and challenges of Social Movements. Commons. Revista de Comunicación y Ciudadanía Digital, 9(2): https://revistas.uca.es/index.php/cayp/issue/view/432https://revistas.uca.es/index.php/cayp/issue/view/432

In Spanish and Portuguese:
Revista Punto de Encuentro: Edición Conmemorativa del Centenario de Paulo Freire: https://signisalc.org/producto/encuentros-paulofreire-comunicacion/

In Portuguese:
Suzina, A.C., Tufte, T. & Jiménez-Martínez, C. (2020). Qual a mensagem de Paulo Freire para os días atuais?: diálogos sobre a relevância do pensamento de Freire para entender o Brasil hoje. Revista Internacional de Comunicación y Desarrollo, 11, 11-18: https://revistas.usc.gal/index.php/ricd/article/view/6543

Suzina, A.C. (2022). Relevância do pensamento de Paulo Freire para entender o Brasil hoje: entre a crítica e a esperança. In Motta, Elizangela A.P., Alvarenga, Ricardo, Lima, Karolinne S. and Santos, Wendel V.F. Emaranhado de conhecimento: 100 anos de nascimento de Paulo Freire. São Luis, MA: Editora Pascal, p.24-34. https://editorapascal.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/EMARANHADO-DE-CONHECIMENTO.pdf

In French:
Suzina, A.C. (2021). Paulo Freire: La voie/voix collective de l’émancipation. Revue Démocratie. MOC: August 2021. http://www.revue-democratie.be/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1509:paulo-freire-la-voie-voix-collective-de-l-emancipation&catid=15&Itemid=148

Special Issues:

The special issue of the journal Commons in English and Spanish in December 2020 (Vol. 9 Núm. 2 (2020): El legado de Paulo Freire en el desarrollo de la sociedad civil | Commons. Revista de Comunicación y Ciudadanía Digital (uca.es)), conducted in collaboration with Victor Mari from the University of Cadiz and editor of the journal.

The special issue of the journal International Communication Gazette (International Communication Gazette - Volume 82, Number 5, Aug 01, 2020 (sagepub.com))

The special issue of Matrizes, one of Brazil’s leading journals of communication: v. 15 n. 3 (2021): Paulo Freire, 100 anos | MATRIZes (USP.br)

Paulo Freire Centennial: 7 Talks in Preparation for the Next 100 Years

Media and Creative Industries celebrates one of the leading social scientists of the 20th Century (2021)

Paulo Freire Centennial past events, recordings and and resources