II Freire Conference: Building the bridge between popular education and university named Event of the Year by the Cambridge Students’ Awards 2023

II Freire Conference: Building the bridge between popular education and university named Event of the Year by the Cambridge Students’ Awards 2023

On the afternoon of Friday, June 16, 2023, at the Graduate Hotel in the city of Cambridge, England, the first student awards ceremony organised by the Cambridge Student Union (Cambridge SU) took place. The event began with a reception in the hotel gardens on the banks of the River Cam to share with other students and student organisations, who were nominated for their local and international work and contribution. The “II Freire Conference: Building the bridge between popular education and university” was nominated for the category of “Event of the Year” by two professors from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and evaluated by a committee.

Two members of the Cambridge Latin American Research in Education Collective (CLAREC) were present at the ceremony. Rocío Fernández Ugalde, on the right of the photo, who is one of the founders of CLAREC and worked on the mobilisation of networks for the conference, and Heidy M. Perez-Cordero, on the left, who was in charge of the “Building Community Day” held at Homerton College at the University of Cambridge.

Heidy shares her experience during the event.

“Cambridge SU surprised the nominees by reading a profile of who would be the winner for each category. It was exciting to hear the description and realise that they were talking about your event who just won the prize. Tears welled up because the II Freire’s Conference was the result of the love, true solidarity and dedication of many people. Walking down the middle of the aisle to pick up the trophy and certificate was like walking with each one of the people who worked hard and are highly dedicated in promoting and practising popular education, democratic education, and social justice (Universidade Emancipa, CLAREC, UFRJ, Instituto Federal Rio de Janeiro, Acao Educativa, Instituto Paulo Freire, CLACSO & the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, among others). We walked that distance for every Latin American who has never been recognised in this very Eurocentric part of the world”

Rocio shares her experience during the event.

“When we plan the conference we do not intend much recognition from the University. The main purpose was to transform – even a little – the way in which the academic world (and in particular Cambridge) relates to other forms and spaces of knowledge production in order to build bridges based on solidarity. During the Student Union ceremony, I realised how significant it is to give visibility to initiatives that look beyond the pre-established order and imagine new spaces so these can be amplified”.

After the award ceremony, two students approached CLAREC members to congratulate them. Both participated in the Building Community Day. One highlighted the need to hold events like this in spaces where interaction with people not involved in academia is not encouraged enough. The other student, who is Colombian, said she was proud of the collective for representing and bringing Latin America to the University of Cambridge.

It should be noted that community leaders both in Cambridge and in Brazil were a key contribution to the success of the II Freire Conference, since they are the ones who keep the practice of popular education and the sense of social justice alive generation after generation.