Abstract

This text works as an introduction for the special issue “The legacy of Paulo Freire. Contemporary reflections on participatory communication and civil society development in Brazil and beyond”. The text outlines the contribution that each of the six articles constituting this issue makes, examining how they state the relevance of Paulo Freire’s ideas for the development and understanding of a notion of participatory communication and the articulation of bottom-up development processes. In addition, each contribution looks at the significance that the legacy of Paulo Freire has for contemporary debates about politics not only in Brazil, but also in other settings.