Participatory Practice
Theme 7: Participatory practice as living the questions and critical thinking Some believe that the notion of education for emancipation is utopian … [T]his sort of ‘realism’ breeds acceptance of social evils. It offers docility and compliance with the powers-that-be. (Kemmis, 2006: 463)
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Critical theory has no special influence on its side, except for a concern for the abolition of social justice…. Its own nature … turns it towards a changing of history and the establishment of justice. (Horkheimer, cited in Kemmis, 2008: 125) It will have become clear by now that participatory practice is not a method, a tool or a technique, it is a process that flows directly from a worldview and underlying values and principles. There are no prescribed outcomes or goals but, as you engage in the process, things unfold and emerge. That emergence and the consequential transformation will not happen without questioning the takenfor-granteds – what Freire (1972) and Gramsci (1971) call ‘false consciousness’ – or an analysis of power. While children are full of questions as they engage with the world, as soon as they go to school, their ability to question diminishes (Berger, 2014); yet it is through questioning that we inquire about the world. We have a tendency not question things in our daily lives but, as Freire (1972) has shown, critical questioning of things we take for granted starts the process of conscientisation and the power to act. Critical theory can help with the process of critical questioning (see Chapter 7). In critical theory being critical means inquiring whether and how the status quo is leading to situations that are inhuman, alienating, unjust and irrational. Such theory helps us to question what we think is reality. However, it is only one form of knowing, and needs to be combined with other ways of knowing that can intertwine with practice and experience, helping social change as we inquire into it. This is the notion of praxis, the idea that we generate knowledge and understanding through our efforts to transform the world. In this way, we use theory not as an expert outsider but dissecting it within the moment and within the context. Through sitting with the questions and in different ways exploring the unarticulated frames and assumptions that are held, we can surface the power relations and the social injustices that lie underneath and hidden. Bregman (2020) in his book Humankind discusses how power corrupts and how powerful people feel less connected to others, because power makes you feel superior. Not having power, we know, has the opposite effect. People who consistently are oppressed and have their power taken away from them often lack confidence, hesitate to offer an opinion and underestimate their own intelligence, and are therefore less likely to strike back. This creates a ‘culture of silence’ (Freire, 1972). Hence, the importance of asking questions to help 30
