For anyone who thinks of Freirian culture circles as a legendary long-ago-and-far-away practice, Mariana Souto-Manning brings you into the heart of here-and-now primary, preservice, and inservice circles. In them, learners who are teachers and teachers who are learners read, name, and rewrite their worlds. Freire stressed that education is potentially transformative when it relates directly to our lives. This book is because it does. (JoBeth Allen, University of Georgia)
'Freire, Teaching, and Learning' deepens and extends the natural history of what we sometimes call critical or liberatory teaching, the pedagogy most often identified with Paulo Freire, but not unique to Brazil, to adult education, to literacy. Mariana Souto-Manning's accomplishment is to show us just how varied and widespread, how close at hand, the practice of teaching for freedom can be. This wild voyage of discovery and surprise illuminates a rich and varied landscape of possibility, a landscape to nourish our humanistic aspirations as teachers. (William Ayers, University of Illinois, Chicago)
Paulo Freire continues to inspire, and in this wonderful new book by Mariana Souto-Manning, his words and ideas take root anew. With vivid portrayals in a variety of contexts, Souto-Manning shows readers that culture circles are not a thing of the past but rather a powerful way to help learners of all ages and in all situations make sense of the world and, in the process, help change it. Rich in theory and in practical examples, 'Freire, Teaching, and Learning' will be an inspiration to teachers, teacher educators, and all those who care about the transformative potential of education. (Sonia Nieto, University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
