Book Launch: Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education in Italy
A New Book Exploring Freire’s Contemporary Relevance in Southern Europe
Dr Jones Irwin, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Education, School of Human Development, DCU, and Professor Letterio Todaro, Education Faculty, Catania University, Sicily, are the joint Editors of a new book on the contemporary significance, in education and politics, of the Brazilian philosopher of education Paulo Freire. Entitled Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education in Contemporary Context: From Italy to the World (Peter Lang, Oxford and Geneva), the book was launched on May 4th in University of Catania, Sicily, Italy, by renowned Freire scholar and educationalist Professor Peter Mayo, UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education at the University of Malta. A series of lectures on education accompanied the launch, by various scholars including by Dr Andrea Mulas, Fondazione Lelio e LisliBasso, Dr Vincenzo Schirripa, University of Palermo, Dr Simona Rizzari, University of Catania and by Dr Irwin and Dr Todaro.
The book has ten chapters, covering questions of Freire’s perspectives on Adult Education, Italian Catholicism, Interculturalism, Democracy, the question of Postmodernism and the relation to Italian Autonomism in politics. There are also three interviews included which cover questions of neoliberal critique in South Italy (Professor Paulo Vittoria), the movement of social therapy (Ilaria Olympico) and the relationship between Freire’s work and the Theatre of the Oppressed (Roberto Mazzini). In his launch of the book, Professor Mayo stated that ’More than other books on Freire, this book has the great merit of shedding light on the struggles, movements and talismanic figures that have contributed to the development of the Italian cultural, including pedagogical, firmament. With Freire continuing to generate much interest, he becomes the perfect ' person to think with' for ideas in education, viewed in its broader contexts, to emerge from Italy. The spotlight on this country, which has made great contributions to pedagogical thinking, is long overdue and therefore most welcome’.
Full details of the book are available here: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1170959