Small Revolutions
For the last fifteen years the pedagogy of action has been conducted outside the US, largely in South Africa, where we teach the low literate HIV module which I developed years ago in the Caribbean. The purpose was to teach HIV prevention to communities using a method so simple that even those who cannot read and write could learn it and then teach it to their own communities. I would teach my students at the University of Michigan the module and they in turn would teach community members outside the university location. These set of students would then form the basic cohort of students who would go to South Africa and there do the same work but then help the second generation teachers to develop the module into their local languages, zulu, Khosa, sotho etc. Over the years these second generation teachers have taught over 20,000 people in rural villages, local communities and in high schools.
Many students have returned several times on other trips and these students then teach the new cohort of students in the fall when they take AAS 443, the Pedagogy of empowerment. In 2012 I decided not to return to South Africa and instead conduct the project in a similar manner to South Africa here in the US. It was the first time that we would actually teach community participants to teach the module and the task of identifying community partners became paramount. Through a series of interpersonal contacts we were able to establish connections with the following groups in 2013: Access (gay Muslim men) the Z collective (middle eastern women focusing on social justice and Arab women), Ground Cover, (a project focused on the homeless), Queer group of Color, a student group and a community group from Ypsilanti.
This was new terrain and it was unclear how this would work. I am happy to say that with the exception of the student groups, all of them worked out very well indeed. Gina Ambrogio in her piece talks about her work with the student group and its frustrations.
The objective of the pedagogy of empowerment class is to challenge the students about the meaning of activism. What is empowerment and who is empowered. The use of the module was one way of giving something to the community that they can own and use in their own ways in their communities. That the people must teach back they cannot be just recipients. In the end after they have all taught back they then come to the University of Michigan where they receive a certificate of achievement and a member of each community group joins their colleagues in presenting the module to the entire audience.
For the students, they interrogate privilege, who is the greatest beneficiary of the project? the community or the University of Michigan students? How can being a part of an unjust social order change this scenario? Is the community more empowered because they have learned the module? Does it change in anyway the unjust social order?Students must grapple with these questions in examining who is empowered and who has power. Indeed the entire project is an interrogation of their own privilege.
What was striking to me was the great gratitude and delight of the community participants in coming to the university and participating in this “graduation”. They were elated. It was though the University was in a far away place that they could never enter and they were endlessly thanking us for this “privilege”. Ironic since this is a state university which is supported by the taxes of these very same people who feel that they don’t belong. This is praxis where the students are engaged in practicing democracy, ensuring both diversity and socio economic inclusion.
This report is a selection of the students writings on both their teaching experiences and the graduation ceremony. Reading this will give you a glimpse of their successes and limitations.It will give you a deeper sense of the fabric and tension of their experiences. The contradictions of privilege and taking action and using a method antithetical to their paradigm of education. You will enjoy reading these.
It represents their reflection in trying to get at the truth of their encounters with the community and their own transformations.
Human existence cannot be silent nor can it be nourished by false words but only by true words with which men and women transform the world. (Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed)
I end with a part of Jason’s reflection on the graduation ceremony because it is a correct analysis of the Pedagogies of empowerment and action and these sentiments were shared by his fellow students as well..
Reflecting deeper, I look back at many moments of triumph and overwhelming emotion. Having Joe’s mom and his entire entourage at the graduation was especially inspiring. His friends and family see Joe as the special person he is, and they proved it by their attendance. Joe’s mom was so genuinely thankful that I was almost brought to tears. I almost cried because it was so amazing and yet so saddening that they took so much satisfaction and pride from this certificate. I felt sad, because personally, I would have previously looked down upon a mere certificate and would have labeled it as foolish or juvenile. It made me sad that a previous me would have failed to see the importance of recognition, especially from such an esteemed institution as the University of Michigan.
Nesha Z. Haniff
Director,
The Pedagogy of Action, Ann Arbor, December 2014
