The epistemological roots of the Paulo Freire Method of Literacy

Abstract

This article is the result of a master’s research in education developed within the Graduate Program in Education of the Community University of the Region of Chapecó (Unochapecó), whose main objective was to investigate the epistemological roots that influenced Paulo Freire in the elaboration of his method of literacy. Based on a qualitative approach, the study is based on a bibliographic research of Freire’s own writings and of scholars of his thought. The results indicate that Freire’s literacy method incorporated historical, political and social influences he experienced in the context of the Brazilian Northeast, where there were high rates of illiteracy, inequality and poverty. They attest that their method is not only about encoding and decoding letters and phonemes, but about educating people to perceive themselves as conscious subjects of their history and as agents of social transformation.