Foreign Aid and Freire

Abstract

Freire would see the imposition of western values and programs through foreign aid as a form of oppressive cultural invasion; “The invaders mold; those they invade are molded; invaders choose; those they invade follow that choice or are expected to follow it; invaders act; those they invade have only an illusion of acting, through the actions of the invaders” (1970, p. 133). Recipients of aid accept the imposed norms and values of the donor and perceive the donor as superior and, therefore, themselves as inferior. Freire comments, “one cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding” (1970, p. 76). Cultural invasion within development aid programs can be seen in the ready acceptance of developed countries’ values and practices by developing countries, which are introduced and enforced through ‘banking’ by an invading force of expatriate advisers.