A Sentipensante Approach to Literature Pedagogy

Abstract

In the seventies, the Colombian sociologist Orlando Fals Borda resigned from his position at the National University of Colombia and moved to the state of Córdoba to live with a peasant community. During fourteen years, he put into practice his famous Participatory Action Research (PAR) and discovered on one of his walks along the slopes of San Jorge the term “sentipensante”, from the mouth of a fisherman. Using Orlando Fals Borda's “sentipensante” methodology, I transfer certain terms (“correo lenguaraz”, “complejo del dejao”, among others) to the field of literature teaching, focusing on the holistic worldview of the coastal community. This approach considers the students' intellectual and emotional concerns, conflicts and worries. In this article, an archival trace of the origin of the term is carried out and from this a literature pedagogy model is built. In addition to analyzing each of the “sentipensante” model components, examples are offered of how to incorporate them into the pedagogy of literature.