15th Comparative Education World Congress 2013: New times, new voices

Abstract

In June 2013, Buenos Aries, capital of Argentina, was the venue for the 15th World Congress of Comparative Education Societies (WCEES), attended by more than 1000 delegates from 80 countries. The Conference location was the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of University of Buenos Aries, in the heart of the city sometimes referred to as the Paris of Latin America. The Conference languages were English and Spanish, with excellent simultaneous translation provided in plenaries by students from the university. Each day began and ended with a panel discussion in plenary session. Of these, the standout one for me was entitled 'Fifty Years After Angicos - Paulo Freire, Popular Education and the Struggle for a Better World that is Possible'. For an hour and a half, several speakers who had worked with Paulo Freire used the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his first literacy campaign in Brazil to reflect on his work and legacy. One of the panellists was Professor Anne Hickling-Hudson from QUT, who worked with Freire in the Grenadan literacy campaign just prior to the US invasion in 1983. This panel generated spirited discussion, capturing some of the vibrancy of the popular education tradition in Latin America today.