Last week in Dr. Kogen’s class, I was introduced to the work of Paulo Freire and discovered Friere’s book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, works as an excellent theoretical framework for the creation of a documentary and a facilitation guide to go along with the documentary.
Freire made many excellent points throughout Pedagogy of the Oppressed, but my biggest takeaways related to how I’ve chosen to do my project. Freire’s work heavily emphasized doing away with learning hierarchies, positing that teachers and students should learn in dialogue with one another instead of students being the receivers of knowledge from teachers (Freire 1970/2017). Freire also emphasized that liberation can only happen after oppressed classes learn of their condition and work together to build a new world, rather than taking on the role of their oppressors (Freire 1970/2017). Finally, Freire heavily stressed that change cannot come from the ruling classes, but that real change has to come from the oppressed classes, as they seek to regain their humanity, which Freire argues is all of our natural states (Freire 1970/2017).
Pedagogy of the Oppressed heavily justifies my methods in the creation of my documentary. I am speaking to people who have lived experience forming a union. I am using their story to inspire other workers to take actions at their own places of work. Finally, and likely most importantly, I am encouraging dialogue between workers, by encouraging them to apply their own thoughts and experiences to understanding the Starbucks worker’s stories and relating them to their own workplaces. I hope my documentary can serve as a blueprint to begin the thought process to answer the question of “how can I stand up for my rights within the workplace?”
Last week, I spoke with my Starbucks contact and they told me about an upcoming strike in November that I plan on filming. I’m excited to share that this week, I will be going to my first labor union meeting with the Starbucks Labor Union! I plan on taking notes to figure out what else to film and who I may want to talk to, as well as beginning to figure out my questions. Finally, I will be meeting with a potential committee member on Monday.
Works Cited
Freire, P. (2017). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). Penguin Classics. (Original work published 1970)