More than fifty years after the publication of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, completed by Paulo Freire in 1968—a year, like the book itself, marked by radicalism and liberation—the questions it raises remain powerfully relevant. And Freire’s answers, rooted in the fundamental principle that there can be no education without the liberation of people from oppression, continue to serve as a global point of reference.

This is why a new edition, enriched with an up-to-date introduction and afterword, as well as brief interviews with contemporary scholars, is far more than a mere reissue of a classic. As Gustavo E. Fischman states in one of the interviews: “I believe the main impact of Freire’s work was in showing that even short-term experiences of democratic schooling—in a single classroom, inside or outside the formal school setting, with children or adults—are valuable in and of themselves. Such experiences teach both educators and students to expect more from themselves, and to connect individual and social actions with the goals of equality and solidarity.”