Community Approach to Radicalization Prevention: A Reading Based on Paulo Freire’s Theories

The educational theories of the Brazilian pedagogist Paulo Freire have inspired different pedagogical approaches, such as Critical Pedagogy and Transformative Learning Theory. He has developed his work with communities and he has always stressed the fact that the “banking model” of education must be replaced by a dialogical one, in which there is a true and profound exchange among teachers and learners. In order to establish this exchange, Freire underlined that learning processes should always be inspired by the experience and by the real needs of the community. In the present study, we will analyze how some principles of Freirean theories can be applied to the prevention of radicalization leading to violence. The examples of how this community approach can be applied to the field of radicalization prevention will be taken mainly from the work done by the Center of Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV), located in Montréal, Canada.