Ashley Kilmnick Chapter 4 Pedagogy of the Oppressed Post
The final chapter Frieire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed unpacked ideas regarding how oppressors manipulate the oppressed to maintain control and how oppression shapes one’s identity.
People who are oppressed often don’t even realize they are being oppressed and manipulated until their thoughts are so deeply rooted in the beliefs of the oppressor that they cannot form their own individual thoughts.
Religion is a major part of many individuals’ identity and is often one of the first forms of teaching used to explain the world. In my own experience religion influenced my identity since birth and played a large role in how I saw the world. Religion was a roadmap which told me how I was supposed to see the world, how I was supposed to carry myself, and when I should do certain things or rituals. I never considered religion as a form of oppression and manipulation until my beliefs were so deeply rooted in its teachings that having thoughts that deviated from the roadmap of religion was terrifying. Many don’t realize they are being oppressed until the oppression is almost inescapable as did I.
I didn’t need to be manipulated to be oppressed by my religion and as Friere describes it “When the oppressed are almost completely submerged in reality, it isn’t necessary to manipulate them.” This idea that Friere brings forth is extremely powerful. When individuals are influenced by conditions like religion for a majority of their life, they inevitably will fall into the reality of that institution. I didn’t need to be manipulated to be oppressed by religion. I was simply raised in the institution of religion and didn’t know any better. When ideas are deeply ingrained in the minds of the oppressed, there is no need to manipulate those people to continue to believe those ideas since they haven’t been taught otherwise and lack the tools to escape.
Often a large part of an individual’s identity is tied to their religion and going against one’s identity, even if one were going against an oppressor, is fundamentally wrong in that individual’s mind. It’s lifelong institutions, like religion, that can serve as a form of mass oppression and manipulation.
Another institution which largely shapes one’s identity is education. I’ve been shaped by the education system since I was two years old. The education system is one of the largest institutions that shapes how people think and develop. This leaves a large space in which individuals in power can utilize the education system as a vehicle to manipulate and oppress. Everything I’ve been taught on how to carry myself in society and what to believe, has been shaped by the education system. Education is what allows an individual to think critically and stand up against an oppressive system; however when the education system is a form of oppression and manipulation in itself, it makes it almost impossible to deviate from the ideas of an oppressor.
One’s identity is molded and shaped by the education system. Therefore, it is one of the most powerful tools oppressors utilize to maintain power over the oppressed. Friere describes “manipulation as a fundamental instrument in the preservation of domination.” In order for the oppressor to maintain power over the oppressed they must use manipulation to dominate. The education system is a mass form of oppression that utilizes manipulation and works to influence people’s identities by teaching the ideas of the oppressor, ensuring that individuals don’t deviate from these teachings. The system guarantees that every person is taught the teachings of the oppressor and shields people from learning ideas that go against the oppressor.
The education system gets its power from the fact that it is often compulsory for one to be educated by a state run education system. One cannot escape these ideas, which paves a clear path for oppressors to continue to oppress individuals and manipulate them through education. If individuals knew of this oppression then the oppressors would lose domination over the masses. This goes back to Freire’s main point that manipulation is a crucial instrument oppressors use to maintain domination.
Oppressors maintain a sense of cultural domination as well which Freire delves into in the final chapter. One’s culture makes up their identity. Traditions and ideas are passed down from generation to generation and serve to unify groups of people. Culture is also used by oppressors to highlight differences among the oppressed and suggest a superior culture and set of ideas. As Freire points out “In order for cultural invasion to succeed, it is essential that those invaded become convinced of their intrinsic inferiority.” In order for a group of individuals to reject such a large part of their identity, being their culture, they must truly be manipulated to believe that their culture and thus their identity in itself is inferior. I’ve seen this through a sense of white or western European cultural superiority, while other cultures are disregarded and looked at as inferior.
This idea of cultural invasion goes beyond traditional ideas, extending to mannerisms, language, clothing, and just about every aspect of daily life. When one’s culture is stripped from them and they are forced to conform to the “superior culture,” they are molded to fit the ideas of the oppressor and lose the most important part of their identity.
Religion, education, and culture are all spaces where one learns about themselves and forms a sense of personhood and identity. It’s these key spaces that oppressors use to force people to adapt and align themselves with the reality the oppressors believe is most fit for the masses.
As long as the oppressors maintain control over institutions that allow them to mold the oppressed they will continue to dominate and maintain power. When individuals have complete power and control over the identity of others through institutions the oppressed are unable to escape the oppression, as their core beliefs and ideas are a product of the oppressor. Identity is the most powerful tool one can have power over and is the key to domination.