Freire insisted his methods be reinvented per local site, never copied

Evidence

The 50th anniversary of Freire’s most-influential work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in 2018, provoked books like this into print as well as memorial conferences like the gathering in Columbia, South Carolina, October 2018, convened by Prof. James D. Kirylo, editor of this volume. On his many travels, Paulo hoped to serve as a “magnet” or “pretense” (as he put it) for activist educators to gather and advance democratic opposition. Each book or gathering succeeds so far as it challenges an unequal status quo while also following Freire’s advice not to copy him but rather to reinvent his work. “I always say,” he wrote, “that the only way anyone has of applying in their situation any of the propositions I have made is precisely by redoing what I have done, that is, by not following me. In order to follow me it is essential not to follow me!” (Freire & Faundez, 1992, p. 30). — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 47

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures Freire’s defining paradox of ‘reinvention’: faithful application of his pedagogy means adaptive local authorship, not replication.
• SEED: Freire’s ‘follow me by not following me’ paradox is a ready essay hook on how intellectual traditions survive across contexts without ossifying into doctrine.