The Curriculum Implications of Liberation Theology as a Theory for Social Change.

187 Pages·2017·9.11 MB·English

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LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School
2001
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Alvaro Basista Alcazar
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Alcazar, Alvaro Basista, "The Curriculum Implications of Liberation Theology as a Theory for Social
Change." (2001). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 233.
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THE CURRICULUM IMPLICATIONS OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY
AS A THEORY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
m
The Department of Curriculum and Instruction
by
Alvaro B. Alcazar
B.A., Universidad de Santo Tomas, 1971
M.T.S., Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School of Theology, 1976
M.R.E., Loyola University, 1984
May 2001
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UMI Number: 3010366
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This dissertation is dedicated to the memory
of my mother and father,
CELEDONIA BASISTA ALCAZAR
March 3, 1923 - May 16, 1999
and
VICTOR FRANZUELA ALCAZAR
March 23, 1921 — January 16, 1996
who each taught for 35 years and teach me
still today.
ii
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It has been a long journey. I lost both my parents before reachiing the destination,
and had it not been for the encouragement and support I received frorm the faculty, my
classmates, and friends in the department of Curriculum and Instructio -n I would have
never arrived at this point. I chose Louisiana State University because I was very
impressed not only with the academic credentials of the faculty but alsco with the depth
and creativity of their work. I wanted a doctoral program that would e=ducate not just my
head but my soul and spirit as well. I know I have received the education I desired and
much more. I will forever be grateful to many people who have contribouted in getting me
to this point.
First and foremost I would like to thank my advisor and mentonr, Dr. William Doll
Jr., for his boundless kindness and generosity. He has been a friend and counselor and has
done so much more than can be expected of an advisor. When at one p-oint I was not sure
I could continue in the program, he awakened me from a grieving — ovoer the loss of my
parents --1 was not aware I was still doing. I have been honored with fnome visits to read
my work when he knew I had been up all night and could not possibly Hiave operated a
vehicle safely. His passion for rigor and depth in scholarship has been am inspiration, and
will continue to be a challenge, to me. My family joins me in expressing* the most
heartfelt gratitude to him for his patience and gentle guidance during thris journey.
I would also like to thank the other members of my doctoral committee. Dr.
William Pinar has enriched my spirit with his exquisite and highly creative work. The
depth of his commitment to and the intensity of his passion for curriculmm theory and
practice have been edifying to me. His concept of currere has been of tr~emendous help in
iii
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putting together the scattered and jagged pieces of my exiled self. Dr. Petra Munro
introduced me to women thinkers and teachers who have opened my eyes to the
culturally inherited yet undiscovered sexist strains within me, and to the concept that
sexism is a prison for us all and that struggling against it is a human responsibility. She
has also helped me see that our position in the classroom as teachers complicates — even
as we proclaim -- the emancipatory challenge in our curricular and pedagogical work. Dr.
Denise Egea-Kuehne has always been encouraging and supportive of my work and me. I
have appreciated very much her introducing me to the work of Derrida, and to her own
work on the intricate and difficult task of including social responsibility in our lives as
educators. Dr. Wendy Kohli left before I finished this dissertation but I thank her also for
introducing me to North American critical thinkers and to the work of Michel Foucault.
I would like to thank Lois Stevenson and Joyce Stewart in the departmental main
office for the warmth of their friendship and for the many things they have done which
saved me many trips from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. I also want to express my
gratitude to my classmates, especially Donna Trueit, Tayari Kwa Salaam, Hongyu Wang,
Nichole Guillory, Brian Casemore, Janis Hill, Vicki Hillis, and Elaine Riley, for their
inspiring solidarity with my social justice writing and activism.
Finally, I would like to thank most deeply my wife Nenette, and my two boys, Jay
and Chris, for their love and understanding while I was on this doctoral journey. They
were always there with me and they were the reason and inspiration for my courage and
persistence in reaching another goal in my formal educational career.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ iii
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. vi
CHAPTER
1 SELF ON TRIAL: ROOT EXPERIENCES IN LIVING AND
LEARNING........................................................................................ 1
Root Learning Experiences.................................................. 4
Teaching in Community....................................................... 7
Traditional Theological Education...................................... 13
Freire and Medellin............................................................... 15
Endnotes................................................................................. 21
2 HISTORICAL ROOTS OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY 25
Vatican II & Gaudium et Spes.............................................. 26
Medellin Conference of CELAM......................................... 37
Basic Ecclesial Communities............................................... 53
The Papal Social Encyclicals................................................ 58
Endnotes................................................................................. 71
3 THE CHALLENGE OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY................... 78
Formulating a New Theological Question........................... 78
Doing Liberation Theology: The Hermeneutic Circle 90
Liberation Theology and Marxism........................................ 100
Transfusing New Life into Ecclesia..................................... Ill
Endnotes.................................................................................. 117
4 THE BLINDSPOTS OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY.................... 120
Hatred from Philosophy.......................................................... 122
Hatred from Theology............................................................ 131
Hatred from Culture................................................................ 136
Endnotes................................................................................... 142
5 COMPOSING A CURRICULUM FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 145
Looking Back through the Currere Lens.............................. 145
Conscientization Revisited.................................................... 152
Sculpting Shared Learning.................................................... 159
Endnotes.................................................................................. 163
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 166
VITA.............................................................................................................................. 176
v
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ABSTRACT
From the perspective of those in the underside of history, contemporary education
has so stagnated that it has lost its capacity to be a force for social change in a world
plagued by social cruelties and injustice. Liberation theologians have shown considerable
success in redirecting tightly institutionalized and intellectualized religious communities
from their weddedness to imperial notions and practices of faith into one solidly aligned
with the struggle of the poor and the marginalized. These theologians of the poor make a
distinction between Christianity and Christendom — the former being the vision of a
Jewish religious reformer named Yeshua and the latter being the result over the centuries
of the imperial co-optation of this vision in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine.
By reconceiving faith as engaged solidarity with the oppressed in their work against all
forms of oppression, liberation theologians turn faith into a powerful force in the social
transformation needed as a condition for the possibility of a genuine love for neighbor.
This study heuristically employs the key concepts of liberation theology in liberating
curricular and pedagogical notions and practices from their anchorage in individualistic,
consumeristic culture and in the military-industrial complex for a landscape of learning
and teaching promotive of and conducive to social change. Reconceiving curriculum and
instruction as conscientization and shared learning — grounded in the experience of those
marginalized and excluded in the knowledge production process — can both reignite
education’s emancipatory fire and make teaching and learning powerful non-violent
forces for social change.
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