Themes are the worldly expression of people’s ideas, values, and feelings at a specific moment in history. For example, Freire argues that the most important themes of his time are domination and liberation—both are expressed in the world through the conflict between oppressors and oppressed people.
Theme Quotes in Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The Pedagogy of the Oppressed quotes below are all either spoken by Theme or refer to Theme. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3
Quotes
[Themes] imply others which are opposing or even antithetical; they also indicate tasks to be carried out and fulfilled. Thus, historical themes are never isolated, independent, disconnected, or static; they are always interacting dialectically with their opposites.
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Theme Term Timeline in Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The timeline below shows where the term Theme appears in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...subject matter of a “problem-posing” classroom: he says that it should primarily focus on the “thematic universe” of its students. Before defining the term more specifically, Freire grounds his idea of...
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...ideas and beliefs exist in the world, and Freire calls their representation in the world “themes.” Every theme has an opposite theme that reflects an opposing idea or belief. The “thematic...
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“Themes” and “limit-situations” are closely related—sometimes, oppressed people live in conditions that prevent them from understanding...
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Education should push oppressed people and political leaders to investigate the “themes” of their time; this will help them understand reality as a whole and in terms...
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The process of thematic investigation starts with the educators, who identify an area to work in and begin to...
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Chapter 4
...cultures equally, and giving them both the same authority. Freire then points back to the “thematic investigations” in Chapter 3, noting that the process can help create cultural synthesis among the...
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