Gramsci and Freire: Bridging the Divide in Indian Context: An Exploratory Essay

There is a stark contrast between the Gramscian approach to the relationship between intellectuals, knowledge and people and the Freirian approach. The former favours the exclusivity of the intellectual as an omniscient person who should lead, morally and intellectually, the party and people whereas the Freirian approach sees value in peoples’ knowledge and the importance of popular participation in the process of social transformation. This essay argues that though the origins in terms space and time are different both the views need to be considere together. It argues that firstly, there is a need to bring them together; secondly, there is a possibility and opportunity for bringing them together. Exclusive emphasis on either approach taken by intellectuals and social change agents will only mean that the other dimension is missed. In a society that historically denied knowledge to the oppressed, exclusive focus on privileged monopoly of knowledge can only reinforce social inequalities. On the other hand, exclusive focus on peoples’ knowledge can slide into fetishising participation and even unwarranted anti-intellectualism that can be self-defeating to the project of social change.