Popular Education and the Collective Recovery of Histories and Memories

Interview with Alfonso Torres Carrillo

Abstract

In dialogue with the history of Popular Education in our continent and with a perspective from the Colombian reality, in this interview Alfonso Torres Carrillo tells us about the role of this educational field in the work of reconstructing histories and memories as a foundation for popular struggles. With extensive experience as a popular educator and one of the most renowned references on our continent, Torres Carrillo is also currently professor emeritus at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional in Bogotá. This interview took place in Santiago de Chile, a few blocks from La Moneda Palace, on September 11, 2023. It was marked by the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew the Unidad Popular government and initiated the Pinochet dictatorship. Various activities rememorating the atrocities of this period in Chilean history had taken the streets the day before. In this context, the educator also comments on the current challenges of Popular Education in promoting the production of other formats linked to the needs and desires of the new generations, as well as the traps related to the instrumentalization of this field. The interview was recorded in Spanish and then transcribed and translated by the interviewer, with the interviewee's consent.