Una alternativa al choque de civilizaciones: el modelo educativo y cultural de Paulo Freire

Abstract

In a now famous book, Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations theory refers not only to the conflicts between civilizations (that are divided by religion and not politics) but also to the reconstruction, the remaking, of world order.
This discussion on the clash of civilizations (that was made public by Huntington, but not originated by him) is connected to the still relevant discussion that, since the 80s, and since the crisis that took place in unesco during the last term in which the Muslim educator from Senegal Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow was General Director, concerns cultural models and the nature and characterization of culture.
In this article we propose an approach to the concept and meaning of culture, considering the conflict between two large groups we refer to as «dynamic-acquiring model» and «static-identifying model». We also connect this to the fact that, through the detailed analysis of the works of Paul Freire, it is possible to conceive an alternative approach that avoids this lack of compatibility and that is much more operative.
In this sense, Freire’s thesis on culture in the educational context, revels it self as a creative one, as opposed to a sterile discussion between cultural models.
For this author, culture and education cross each other’s path. If culture is characterized as a force capable of transforming reality, education is the attitude that activates that capacity. And because it is an agent of change, it can’t remain a bystander to the transforming potential of culture, and it must develop that capacity to achieve transformations in the path towards freedom.