Ronald David Glass

On Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Praxis and the Foundations of Liberation Education

This essay examines the ontological and epistemological foundations of Paulo Freire’s philosophy of praxis and critiques the structure of his argument. It outlines a more consistent historicist interpretation of liberation education that retains the liberatory power of modernism and its critique of dehumanization, recognizes the malleability and contradictions of identity, embraces epistemic uncertainties and the varieties of reason in knowledge, and respects the plural conceptions of the good which can shape moral and political life. Finally, the essay argues that this understanding of liberation education requires an ethics grounded in militant nonviolence.

Education and the Ethics of Democratic Citizenship

In this essay, I situate public education within a vision of its special role in enabling critical citizenship within a participatory, pluralistic democracy. I provide a framework for analyzing the current predominant practices of public education, and assess the degree to which they support individual self-development toward that democratic vision. Finally, I suggest that the ethics of democratic citizenship can guide the reform of public education to enhance its capacity to realize a dream of a democracy committed to justice and the full participation of all its members.

Ethical and Epistemic Dilemmas in Knowledge Production: Addressing Their Intersection in Collaborative, Community-Based Research.

Collaborative community-based research can bring a range of benefits to universities, communities, and the public more broadly. A distinct virtue of collaborative community-based research is that it makes the ethical–epistemic intersections and challenges in research a focal point of its methodology. This makes collaborative community-based research well positioned to address various forms of ‘epistemic injustice’ (Fricker, 2007) that demean certain people and groups as knowers and exclude them from knowledge production. In this article, we examine the ethical and epistemic advantages and challenges of collaborative community-based research in light of the concept of epistemic injustice. We argue that collaborative community-based research can help provide an institutional response to epistemic injustices often embedded within processes of knowledge production.

Comparing Ethical and Epistemic Standards for Investigative Journalists and Equity-Oriented Collaborative Community-Based Researchers: Why Working for a University Matters

Criticisms of IRBs are proliferating. In response, we compare the ethical and epistemic standards of two closely related forms of inquiry, investigative journalism and equityoriented collaborative community-based research (EOCCBR). We argue that a university affiliation justifies formal ethical review of research and suggest how institutionalized research ethics might better serve EOCCBR. Our comparative analysis also sheds light on the public role of universities by underscoring what is morally relevant about being a university-affiliated researcher.

Reading Patrick Shannon on Reading Instruction: Reflections on Politics and Education

Book reviewed in this article: Reading Poverty. By Patrick Shannon. 1998. Text, Lies, and Videotape: Stories About Life, Literacy, and Learning. By Patrick Shannon. 1995. The Struggle to Continue: Progressive Reading Instruction in the United States. By Patrick Shannon. 1990. Broken Promises: Reading Instruction in Twentieth-Century America. By Patrick Shannon. 1989.

The Ethical Stakes of Collaborative Community-Based Social Science Research

This multivocal essay engages complex ethical issues raised in collaborative community-based research (CCBR). It critiques the fraught history and limiting conditions of current ethics codes and review processes, and engages persistent troubling questions about the ethicality of research practices and universities themselves. It cautions against positioning CCBR as a corrective that fully escapes these issues. The authors draw from a range of philosophic, African-centric, feminist, decolonial, Indigenous, and other critical theories to unsettle research ethics. Contributors point toward research ethics as a praxis of engagement with aggrieved communities in healing from and redressing historical trauma.

Ethical, Epistemic, and Political Issues in Equity-Oriented Collaborative Community-Based Research

Equity-Oriented Collaborative Community-Based Research is an umbrella term for research methodologies, like action research, that engage communities in research processes linked to social justice struggles. The relational character and equity orientation distinguish it from traditional research methodologies, giving rise to complex ethical and epistemic quandaries that are further complicated by the various subject positions and social formations among community and university partners. In this chapter, we especially draw from feminist and critical scholars who have long grappled with the kinds of ethical and epistemological questions that emerge from research rooted in social justice commitments. Our discussion focuses on three interconnected ethical spheres: (1) power and knowledge production, (2) advocacy and research, and (3) the foundations of research ethics—informed consent, confidentiality, and anonymity.

Revisitando os fundamentos da educação para a libertação: o legado de Paulo Freire

This essay examines, critiques, and extends the ontological, epistemological, ethical, and political foundations of Paulo Freire’s theoryof liberation education; it also situates Freire’s legacy with in the global applicationof his ideas in a wide range of educational contexts. It defends historicity and praxis as essential characteristics of human existence, exposes the problems with notions of authentic identities, and elaborates a historicized understanding of knowledge production. The essay argues for liberation education to be grounded in an ethics without righteousness coupled with a politics of militant nonviolence.