Impossible Subjects - The Figure of the Animal in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Oct 15, 2026

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Freire’s influential Pedagogy of the Oppressed constructs a pedagogy of human liberation through anthropocentric and speciesist claims about “nature,” while offering limited attention to how nonhuman animals are figured. This work argues that “the animal” functions as a foundational Other by being portrayed as non-communicative and non-dialogical, non-agential and non-transforming, and lacking history or culture. The critique aims to strengthen humane and critical environmental education by addressing how these representations enable animal oppression.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction: The figure of “the animal” in Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Ontological claims and speciesism as a focus of critique

Rationale for the paper: literature gap and supplementary contribution

Implications for critical environmental and humane education

Impossible Subjects: The Figure of the Animal in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed Lauren Corman, Brock University, Canada Abstract Freire’s inﬂuential text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, relies on both anthropocentric and speciesist arguments to articulate a pedagogy for human liberation. While Freire’s anthropocentric understandings of “nature” have been more thoroughly critiqued, less attention has been given to his construction of nonhuman animals, in particular. I argue that Freire ﬁgures nonhuman animals in three main ways: as non-communicative and non-dialogical, as non-agential and non-transforming, and as without history or culture. Within his pedagogical paradigm, humans alone are understood as Subjects who can achieve liberation. Freire strategically uses the ﬁgure of the animal to highlight human potentiality, which is realized by transcending an oppressed/Object/animal state. My critique of Freire is meant to complement humane and critical environmental education approaches that draw on his work. Résumé Le texte inﬂuent de Freire, Pédagogie des opprimés, s’appuie sur des arguments tant anthropocentriques que spécistes pour formuler une pédagogie prônant la libération de l’humain. Tandis que la conception anthropocentrique de Freire de la « nature » a été critiquée exhaustivement, une attention moins assidue a été accordée à sa déﬁnition des animaux non humains, en particulier. Je suisd’accord que Freire classe les animaux non humains en trois grandes catégories : non communicants et incapables de dialogue, non obéissants et incapables de transformer la matière, et sans histoire ni culture. À l’intérieur de ce paradigmepédagogique, les humains seuls sont considérés comme Sujets pouvant accomplirleur libération. Freire emploie stratégiquement l’analogie de l’animal pour mettreen évidence lepouvoir de l’humain, en transcendant un état opprimé/Objet/animal. Mon analyse critique de Freire a pour but de compléter les approches humaines et critiques de l’éducation environnementale trouvant leur source dans son œuvre. Keywords: Freire, speciesism, anthropocentrism, subjectivity, critical pedagogy, humane education, environmental education, animal liberation The ﬁgure of “the animal” features prominently within Freire’s enormously inﬂuential text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Here, I primarily examine the ways in which Freire relies on reductive, ﬁxed, and speciesist constructions of “the animal” and animality throughout the text. My use of the term “the animal” is intentional, as Freire actively negates and denies the multiplicity and diversity Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 16, 2011 29 of nonhuman animal life, instead offering representations of animals 1 as singular, monolithic, and debased. Comparatively, Derrida (Derrida & Mallet, 2008) writes against the collapse of all of animalkind into a single signiﬁer set against humanity, and proposes instead the term “animot” to indicate “an irreducible living multiplicity of mortals”(p. 41) . Rather than understanding Freire’s constructions of “the animal” as merely incidental or peripheral to his main claims about dialogical education, and its antithetical counterpart,“the banking method of education,”(2007, p. 109), I argue that “the animal” serves as a foundational Other against which Freire contrasts his fully realized (“transcend[ed]”) human“dialogical” Subject.2 Freire’s ontological claims regarding nonhuman animals have garnered scant critical commentary. Indeed, despite the arguably progressive thrust of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the speciesism3 and unrelenting anthropocentrism4 of the text remains largely unchallenged (Bell & Russell, 2000) . My main concern is that the consequences of these discursive gestures include the implicit and explicit denial of animal subjectivities, and in relation, animal oppression. For example, according to his pedagogical methodology, animals are crucially placed outside of the capacity for dial

FAQs

How does the paper characterize Freire’s use of nonhuman animals in Pedagogy of the Oppressed?

It argues that Freire figures nonhuman animals in three main ways: as non-communicative and non-dialogical, as non-agential and non-transforming, and as lacking history or culture.

What is the author’s main concern about Freire’s discursive treatment of animals?

The paper contends that these gestures involve implicit and explicit denial of animal subjectivities and, in turn, facilitate animal oppression.

Why does the paper focus on critique rather than dismissing Freire outright?

It states there is a literature gap about the function of “the animal” in the text, notes that other authors already show Freire’s ideas for environmental and animal liberation pedagogy, and positions this article as supplementary to that work.

Oct 15, 2026

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