Entre o silêncio e a travessia: o “exílio profundamente pedagógico” de Paulo Freire no Chile (1964 – 1969)

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes how Paulo Freire’s experience of exile in Chile (1964–1969) contributed to the consolidation and development of his critical and liberatory pedagogical thought. The general objective is to examine how the exile in Chile contributed to the consolidation and evolution of his pedagogical thinking, with emphasis on the experiences lived in that country and the works produced during this period. The specific objectives are: (a) to contextualize the political and educational scenario in Brazil between the 1940s and 1960s, highlighting the conditions that enabled the emergence of Popular Education proposals and Paulo Freire’s early experiences prior to the 1964 civil-military coup; (b) to analyze Paulo Freire’s experience in the Chilean exile as a formative and pedagogical process, articulated within the Latin American context and Popular Education practices, emphasizing its contribution to the maturation of a critical and liberatory thought; and (c) to demonstrate how the exile contributed to the formulation of a pedagogy committed to the emancipation of the oppressed and the transformation of social reality. The research adopts a critical-dialectical approach, grounded in Freirean thought and historical- dialectical materialism, with a qualitative, documentary, and historical-educational nature. The core corpus consists of the three works produced by Freire during his Chilean period: Education, the Practice of Freedom (1967), Extension or Communication? (1969), and Pedagogy of the Oppressed (written in 1968, published in 1970), complemented by interviews and audiovisual materials. Methodological procedures included bibliographic and documentary research, interpretive and critical analysis, and source triangulation, articulated with theoretical frameworks from the works of Paulo Freire (1967, 1968, 1969), Gadotti (1996, 2013, 2023), Haddad (2000), Di Pierro (2001), Vasconcelos (2020, 2024), Spigolon (2014), Silva (2011), Torres (1981, 1993, 2001), and Streck (2019), among others. The central thesis argues that Paulo Freire’s exile in Chile (1964–1969) constituted a “deeply pedagogical exile,” in which the historical experience of displacement was transformed into epistemological and pedagogical praxis, decisive for the consolidation and evolution of his thought. The findings confirm that the exile did not represent a biographical interruption but rather became a category of praxis that consolidated the fundamental epistemological categories of Freirean thought: dialogue, conscientization, and transformative praxis. It is concluded that the exile decisively contributed to the formulation of a pedagogy committed to the emancipation of the oppressed and the transformation of social reality, universalizing the pedagogy of liberation and projecting its legacy beyond geographical and temporal boundaries. The concepts of conscientization, freedom, democracy, and Popular Education, matured during the Chilean exile, consolidated the core of Freirean pedagogy and remain vital in the face of contemporary educational challenges, especially in the field of Popular Education and the epistemologies of the Global South.