The influence of Memmi, Fanon and Cabral on Freire’s work

Abstract

The paper arises from a theoretical study and aims to investigate the influence of Albert Memmi, Frantz Fanon and Amílcar Cabral on the work of Paulo Freire. The reflection is divided into two parts. Firstly, the assonances between The Colonizer and the Colonized by Memmi, The Wretched of the Earth by Fanon and Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Freire will be explored. Following this, the impact of Cabral’s figure, action and theorization on the further development of Freirean pedagogy in a decolonial key will be analyzed. In this way, the paper intends to problematize a dominant interpretation of Freire’s thought, according to which, in the early stages of his work, the author neglected the cultural and racial dimensions of oppression, in order to argue that, on the contrary, this theme has been a constant throughout his political and theoretical trajectory.