F.R.E.I.R.E

Fourth International Conference on Education, Labor, and Emancipation

Manifesto for New Social Movements: Equity, Access, and Empowerment

June 16-19, 2009
Hotel Tropical da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia (Brazil)

We are currently witnessing the emergence of a new context for education, labor, and emancipatory social movements. Global flows of people, capital, and energy increasingly define the world we live in. The multinational corporation, with its pursuit of ever-cheaper sources of labor and materials and its disregard for human life, is replacing the nation-state as the dominant form of economic organization. Faced with intensifying environmental pressures and depletion of essential resources, economic elites have responded with increased militarism and restriction of civil liberties.

At the same time, masses of displaced workers, peasants, and indigenous peoples are situating their struggles in a global context. Labor activists can no longer ignore the concomitant struggles of Indigenous peoples, African diasporic populations, other marginalized ethnic groups, immigrants, women, GLBT people, children and youth. Concern for democracy and human rights is moving in from the margins to challenge capitalist priorities of “efficiency” and exploitation. In some places, the representatives of popular movements are actually taking the reins of state power. Everywhere we look, new progressive movements are emerging to bridge national identities and boundaries, in solidarity with transnational class, gender, and ethnic struggles.

At this juncture, educators have a key role to play. The ideology of market competition has become more entrenched in schools, even as opportunities for skilled employment diminish. We must rethink the relationship between schooling and the labor market, developing transnational pedagogies that draw upon the myriad social struggles shaping students’ lives and communities. Critical educators need to connect with other social movements to put a radically democratic agenda, based on principles of equity, access, and emancipation, at the center of a transnational pedagogical praxis.

Distinguished scholars from numerous fields and various countries will convene in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil) to compare and contribute to theoretical perspectives, share pedagogical experiences, and work toward developing a global movement of enlightening activism. Issues related to education, labor, and emancipation will be addressed from a range of theoretical perspectives, including but not limited to the following:

• Critical Pedagogy
• Critical Race Theory
• Postcolonial Studies
• Marxist and Neo-Marxist Perspectives
• Social Constructivism
• Comparative/International Education
• Postmodernism
• Indigenous Perspectives
• Feminist Theory
• Queer Theory
• Poststructuralism
• Critical Environmental Studies
• Critiques of Globalization and Neoliberalism
• Liberation Theology

Keynote Speaker

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, is a Professor of Sociology at Duke University. He has published four books to date, namely, White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era,Racism without Racists, and White Out (with Woody Doane), and White Logic, White Methods: Racism and Methodology (with Tukufu Zuberi). He is working on another book on methodology matters (with G. Baiocchi and H. Horton) and on another titled The Invisible Weight of Whiteness: The Racial Grammar of Everyday Life in America. Professor Bonilla-Silva is the 2008 recipient of the Lewis A. Coser Award for theoretical agenda setting in sociology.

Invited Featured Speakers

Dr. Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves e Silva, Ph.D in Education and Humanities, is a researcher and professor of Curriculum & Instruction and Ethnic-Racial Relations at the Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil). Served on Brazil’s National Higher Education Commission (2002-2006), and contributed to the development of Brazil’s National Curriculum Standards for Ethnic-Racial Relations and for the Afro-Brazilian History. Her current research focuses on: international research on epistemology of African roots; overcoming racism in schools; research agenda in Black education; human rights; social praxis and educational process; and curricular politics.

César Augusto Rossatto, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is author of numerous publications including: Engaging Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Possibility: From Blind to Transformative Optimism. He is founder of CONFELE and of Paulo Freire SIG at AERA. He teaches courses in critical pedagogy, critical multiculturalism, education for social justice, sociology of education. His main research interests are: The U.S. and Mexican border within the context of Globalization and Neo Liberalism, social relations and Brazilian identity formation in United States and its implications to schooling, the phenomenon of fatalism and optimism in contrast with social classes’ differences, and the effects of whiteness in Brazil and in the United States.

Dave Hill is Professor of Education Policy at the University of Northampton, England, and Chief Editor, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, at www.jceps.com. He heads the independent e-Institute for Education Policy Studies, at www.ieps.org.uk. He is Routledge Series Editor for the Education and Neoliberalism, and also for the Routledge Education and Marxism series. He has eight edited/ co-edited books being published in 2009-10 for Routledge, Palgrave MacMillan, and for Continuum. He is a Socialist political activist, formerly a Labour Parliamentary candidate, Labour Council Group Leader, and elected trade union regional leader in England. He lectures worldwide on Marxism and Radical/Socialist education.

Dr. Marcos Arruda has a Ph.D. in Education from Universidade Federal Fluminense. He is also a socioeconomic specialist and the co-founder and Coordinator of Institute Cajamar of Ibase and PACS (Instituto Políticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul). He is a member of the Transnational Institute, having its BASE in Amsterdam. Dr. Arruda worked with Professor Paulo Freire in Ação Cultural Institute during his exile in Switzerland. During that time, he was an advisor for the Ministry of Education in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. Dr. Arruda was an advisor for Ministry of Education in Nicaragua and for the International Council in Ginebra, Switzerland. He was a Professor in Philosophy of Education in the Institute of High Education, Getulio Vargas Foundation, RJ. He Is a member in the international organization Socioeconomia Solidária, from Aliança por um Mundo Responsável e Solidário.

Dr. Narcimária Correia do Patrocínio Luz holds a Doctor in Education from Bahia Federal University, and a Postdoctoral in Culture and Communication from Rio de Janeiro Federal University. She is a Full Professor of Education at Bahia State University- UNEB. She coordinates PRODESE- Education and Decolonization Program in conjunction with CNPq. She is member of International Association for the Revival and Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and Solidarity World. She is Editor of SEMENTES- research journal. Her Research interest are: African education and heritage, Afro-Brazilian Educational commonalities, Esthetic dimensions of Afro Brazilian Communication, Violence Dynamics in Afro-Brazilian School Settings.

Dr. Gosnell L. Yorke, Professor of Religion and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Northern Caribbean University (Jamaica). As Adjunct Professor at the University of South Africa (UNISA), he coordinated a government-sponsored program for training young researchers from South Africa’s historically disadvantaged communities. Fluent in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, he has published on post-colonialism and the Bible, the role of the Bible in the African Diaspora, the ideological underpinnings of Bible translation, and the political use (and abuse) of the Bible. He is a contributor to the forthcoming (2009) Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions and The Africana Bible.

Marcos Terena is the son of Terena Indigenous People from Pantanal, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. He is currently the Chair of Indigenous People Memorial and a Department member of Indigena Itinerante. Mr. Terena is also the founder of the First Indigenous Movement in Brazil: the Indigenous United Nation (UNIND). He is a spokesman for indigenous people and a writer. Author of books: “The Indigenous Pilot” and “Citizens of the Jungle.”
He masterminded the Indegenous Park Kari-Oca, where UN supported the Environment and Indegenous Peoples Territory Conference. He advocated at UN and OAE for permanent forum about Indegenous Rights in New York for the coalition of Land is Life. For more info visit site: www.tvintertribal.com.br

Dr. Seehwa Cho is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of ST. Thomas in Minnesota, USA. Originally from South Korea, she was a middle school teacher, and a researcher at the Korean Educational Development Institute. Currently she teaches courses in the critical theories of education, curriculum theories, multicultural education, and critical pedagogy. She served as the director of Critical Pedagogy doctoral program. Her research projects include globalization and its impacts on education in South Korea, and the relationships between labor, gender, and schooling. Her recent publication is on the political economic analysis of critical pedagogy, and culture and critical theories of education.

Dr. Paulino de Jesus Francisco Cardoso is a Brazilian nationally known scholar from Florianópolis. He is Associate Provost for Culture, Community and University Extension at UDESC (Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina); He is also professor and member of NEABs (Afro-Brazilian Studies); National NEABs coordinator; concentration on African history in Brazil and in Santa Catarina particularly focusing on themes such as, blacks, history, education, racism and culture. Bachelor’s degree (1988): History- Santa Catarina Federal University; Master’s degree (1993): History- São Paulo Catholic University; PhD (2004): History- São Paulo Catholic University.