Abstract

This article explores the effects of Arizona’s HB 2281 and Tucson Unified School District’s purging of its Mexican American Studies program on the utilization of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed in the public K-12 classroom. As the use of the text becomes more controversial, educators who wish to teach Freirean principles must choose between assigning the text to their students, at the risk of career ending consequences, or seeking out a substitute text that embodies Freire’s philosophies. It is suggested that a text popular within current youth culture be assigned in order to help students make personal connections with the content. The Hunger Games is presented as an appropriate alternative text due to having themes parallel to those presented in Freire’s text. The responsibility of teachers to help students integrate Freirean principles into their everyday lives is also discussed.

Keywords: Paulo Freire, Hunger Games, Youth Culture, Social Justice, Media literacy, Critical Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Young Adult Literature, HB 2281, Secondary Education, Liberating Education, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

How to Cite:

Neely, A. D., (2014) “Trouble in Tucson: Using The Hunger Games to teach Freirean principles post HB 2281”, International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 5(2).