Cuba's National Literacy Campaign: A mass movement of emancipatory global civic education

Critical pedagogy is an emerging field. It is education for social and economic justice. In our increasingly globalized world it is important that critical pedagogy forge new paradigms to demystify globalization and to give education a role in resisting oppressive global policies. An historical case study of Cuba's National Literacy Campaign of 1961 serves this purpose in the context of what the author calls Emancipatory Global Civic Education.; Emancipatory Global Civic Education has three components. First, it makes no pretense toward neutrality as it advocates resistance against all forms of oppression. Second, it emphasizes the day-to-day struggles of ordinary people in social movements instead of the glorification of charismatic leaders. Third, it constructs a critical inquiry of globalization through the lens of political economy while building educational fronts to counter oppressive global policies.; This work establishes interpretive validity in historical analyses of primary and secondary sources, in data analysis from 63 interviews and focus-group sessions yielding approximately 100 testimonies of participants in the Literacy Campaign, and in a synthesis of theories involving critical pedagogy, civic education, and Latin American Marxism. An understanding of Cuba in global context requires an in-depth study of its colonial struggles for independence against Spain and its subsequent struggles for national sovereignty against neo-colonial political and economic penetrations by the United States. The author provides this background with a focus on educational movements and literacy drives.; The main conclusion is that Cuba's National Literacy Campaign provides a clear example of a mass movement of Emancipatory Global Civic Education. The Campaign succeeded in nearly eliminating illiteracy completely because it followed a revolution and utilized the three components of Emancipatory Global Civic Education. It took radical action against the illiteracy that had plagued nearly a quarter of the population, it mobilized the masses with grassroots efforts, and it resisted imperialism and persisted even amidst constant threats and brutal attacks from the counter-revolutionary forces that were supported by the U.S. government. It is an historical feat that critical pedagogy cannot overlook. Nor can critical pedagogy overlook Emancipatory Global Civic Education and its possible applications in our world.