Conscientisation and criticism. Raymond Williams and Paulo Freire’s contribu-tions to adult education

Abstract

1921 is the year of the centenary of Paulo Freire’s birth, but also is the centenary of the birth of the Welsh thinker Raymond Williams. There is no proof that they personally knew each other, but perhaps they knew each other’s work. They lived in radically different contexts, and with different intellectual worries. But their ideas have some very interesting common points: the importance of culture, the role of the educator, the insistence on the need for adult education that aids the emancipation of individuals and communities, and the building of a democratic society, among others. The article does not aspire to explore possible connections between the thoughts of both authors, even though they have been an important influence in adult education in the 20th century, that remains in the 21st. What I would like to do in this paper is to reflect about some of their contributions that help us resist the battering of neoliberalism found in the policies and practices of Lifelong Learning. Their ideas also guide us on the path to building a fairer, more solidary and democratic society and an education.