The Precursors / Mario Kaplun
MARIO KAPLÚN THE POPULAR COMMUNICATOR WHO EDUCATES
Rosa Mollo Freytas. FMA
«Communication is a wide and open street that I love to walk.
It intersects with commitment and makes a corner with community »(Mario Kaplún ).
Mario Kaplun is an educator-communicator of Argentine origin who was born in 1923, however most of his life was spent in Uruguay, a visionary who believed in communication that involves everyone as a vehicle of education and that transforms settings and contexts . Although he was a professional in basic education, he never practiced as such but found the ideal way to educate, this was from the point of view of communication.
He is one of the few thinkers who managed to make his life a well-formulated ecosystem between ideological discourse, the educational-communicative experience and life 1 , he was a search engine, who recognized in the media the best and most excellent meeting platform that brings , transform and build collective thinking.
It creates, confronts and produces educational and participative programs of significant popularity in various Latin American countries, among the most prominent of which it is commendable to mention: “Father Vicente. Diary of a Barrio priest ”(1969-1973) or“ Jury Number 13 ”(1971-73).
During the Uruguayan dictatorship (1973-1985), Mario Kaplún went into exile in Venezuela (1978-1985), where he worked as coordinator of the communication area of the Center at the Service of Popular Action (CESAP), developing from educational-communicational thinking experiences of pedagogy and popular communication 2.
It was in Uruguay that Mario developed the thought that would encourage him throughout his life versed in the methodology of education - communication, as a "reason for life" of his professional research career, between exiles and experiences lived in Latin America, since the 70s .
For his friends, Mario had a very versatile experience in which he traveled through the paths of education and communication, a prophet who evidenced the intrinsic relationship between both disciplines from praxis, is to admire his lucidity, strength of mind, immense ability intellectual, and the bold ethical position before life
He was a practical educator-communicator, who developed all his experience from radio and television, his fruitful career places him as a publicist, communicator, educator, researcher, writer, 3 among other endeavors, bequeath Latin America and the entire world, a benchmark who can be identified as a precursor to the new emerging paradigm of "educommunication", his investigative intuition determines this.
1 Cf. Barranquero, A. Participatory communication and media education. Implications of Mario Kaplún's concept of “feed-forward”
3 Caracrsiti, M., Profiles, The ideas of MARIO KAPLÚN: Latino phenomenon of educational communication, http: // http: //www2.metodista.br/unesco/PCLA/revista4/perfis%204-2.htm#1 . Biography of Mario Kaplún
Mario Kaplun, permeates the communication of very human characteristics that bring people closer and allow them proximity, human warmth, welcome, emotion, interest, which breaks the "cultural isolation, improve living conditions and overcome economic, social and political dependency ”
The media seen from the perspective of Mario Kaplun are not just referring to the delivery of impersonal, distant and commercial arguments, but as a platform for education and popular culture, promoter of comprehensive development, facing "the urgent needs of the masses popular ” 4 .
The argument of this thinker starts from the intrinsic unity that he finds in the education-communication relationship and that reveals the significant and predominance that communication has in the transformation process in which cultures develop.
Undoubtedly it has a great influence on the thinking of Mario Kaplún: Freire, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freinet, understanding that only when the person who is the subject of education manages to express an idea so that others can understand it, is it when he himself understands it and he appreciates it significantly, evidenced in the coherence of life and relationship 5.
The communicative educational experience reveals a continuous process of significance, convergence and transformation in the line of social dialogue that harmonizes the person in the possibility of creating, sustaining and building together with other communicational networks that respect culture, history and the complexity of manifestations that these bring with them.
Alternative communication as an eminently Latin American movement is distinguished by developing from the field of social communication; Democratic, participatory relationships, in which sharing is done at the same level, everyone learns from everyone, dialogues and respects the diversity of manifestations, social classes, thoughts, levels of knowledge, that is, it is built from the richness of the different communication processes that they value culture, articulate commitments, transform realities.
The importance of this broad movement, which was developing in the praxis of a communication that is delivered in a wide range of areas and perspectives, has at bottom a social nature and universal value based on equity and the possibility of assuming it as a right of all , as a process of exchange, sharing of putting at the service of the common good, ideas, thoughts, knowledge on a topic of social, economic, political, ecological interest in relation to coexistence itself. 6
Building the communicative argument together requires an interlocution between those who feel responsible for history, their own culture, the social commitment of which they are participants and the development of peoples, hence the alternative or popular communication that Kaplun defends transcends the function Mechanist of communication to strengthen communicational links, training, transformation and dialogical construction 7 .
Let us not forget that "Alternative communication is part of a socio-political praxis of social transformation; consequently (...) what predetermines these forms of communication is - if you want to put it that way - outside the field of communication; it is located within the framework of the political project that generates them as an instrument and expression of its development ” 8 .
Alternative communication makes the media available to everyone, allowing to establish a new order that requires all sectors and social groups to commit to participate in it being - "alternately senders and receivers" exercising their right and developing their ability to be emirers, senders -receptors that pass through the simultaneity of times in the processes and embody the authentic prospects of development and social leadership.
Mario Kaplun, bets on the formation of a communicator who knows the media in depth as a preliminary step to achieve a more intensive and effective meaning for the diversity of social imagery in which "everyone has a voice" 9 , the interlocution in the thought of this Author is one of the keys to reading in the construction of alternative communication.
4 Cfr. Kaplun M, (1978) Production of Radio Programs, pg. 10-13 5 Cfr.
5 Cf. Ayales, I; Benites M and others, (1996) Gender, communication and sustainable development. Costa Rica, ed.
6 Cf. Ayales, I; Benites M and others, (1996) Gender, communication and sustainable development. Costa Rica, ed.
7 Cfr. Freire (1973) The pedagogy of the Oppressed.
8 Mata, M. (1982) legalized alternative A cautious reading of the MacBride Report, "For free and liberating information", CELADEC, Lima, 1982, p. 168
9 Ob.Cit pg. eleven
Mario Kaplun proposes three models of education, two of an endogenous nature that point to external content and results and an endogenous one that refers to the significance of processes 10 , articulation as a principle of collaborativeness and respect for differences.
The third model embodies the heart of popular communication, which will favor the vision of education from its real meaning. It becomes a priority function as the art of provoking meanings and producing behaviors in the exchange of thoughts, postures and perspectives, feelings and actions of the peoples, through the construction and perception of the analysis of everyday events, which require adequate and bold transformation. eleven
Kaplun was firmly convinced that communication is essentially the human community relationship consisting of the emission-reception of messages between interlocutors in a state of total reciprocity, freedom and respect for differences.
Mario Kaplun's communicative experience continues to give value to the significance of the media, on the contrary, it redefines the value of these in the face of communication processes, consequently the effort to make them available to the majority makes sense.
10 Cfr. Kaplun, M. (1985) The popular communicator pg. 20-40.
11 Caracrsiti, M., Profiles, The ideas of MARIO KAPLÚN: Latino phenomenon of educational communication, http://www2.metodista.br/unesco/PCLA/revista4/perfis%204-2.htm#1. Bibliography of Mario Kaplún
The originality of Mario Kaplun has been his ability to integrate, articulate, generate new styles of communication, education, he is recognized as a pioneer of many skills; among others, the design of an intelligent, interesting, creative and participative educational radio and “the creation of didactic methodologies for critical reading of the media; In addition, he was the first to incorporate the subject of Media Education in the curriculum of a Latin American university ” 12 .
The figure of Mario Kaplún is essential in Media Education, as Paulo Freire or Célestin Freinet have been in the field of education. The originality of his thought supports the premise that a true "Media Education" seeks the formation of free, supportive, and tolerant citizens and pursues the utopia of building new ways of access to communication, tailored to people, of his cultural, communicative and educational development, this is the legacy that this fighter with prophetic gaze and holistic thinking leaves us, to communicate is not to deliver data, it is to favor the network of relationships, life stories and development that ensures a better quality of life for everyone.
12 Comunicar Magazine (1999) No 12, Mario Kaplun, the unwavering commitment to educate for communication, pg. 210, http://www.revistacomunicar.com/pdf/comunicar12.pdf
In the argumentative content of alternative communication, Mario Kaplun develops an intention that transcends the media, discovers from his own experience that the media should be at the service of education, be used to compensate for social inequalities and promote participatory communication, open, egalitarian, active and critical.
Mario Kaplun identified the need to value the communication processes and competences in the educational experience, an attitude necessary to overcome the gap of poverty, inequality and social exclusion, a communication that prioritizes dialogue, solidarity cooperation, social commitment, systematic development of communication skills. 13
The investigative experience in media education from alternative or popular communication is the result of a committed and identified way of living communication: a remarkable reflection of firm convictions, deep desires and concrete actions at the service in the task of building a a better and more livable world for all 14 .
Religion in the case of Kaplún is not that of dogma or the temple, but of action, of life, Kaplun is a born seeker who finds in the critical formation of the media a vital strategy for the development of justice and peace of the communities.
Under the influence of Pablo Freire's thought, Kaplún introduced in his programs the application of the principle by which communication is participatory dialogic. Thought from the praxis and then reflecting on the theory, the method of Jury No.13 was one of the keys to his work, not only in relation to communicational praxis, but in relation to faith: "Faith is dialogic; faith grows, faith is made with a team of 15 people.
13Kaplun M., (1992) To education through communication, UNESCO OREAL, Santiago de Chile
14 Silva, V, Communication as an attitude of life, http://www.infoamerica.org/documentos_word/Mario%20Kapl%FAn.htm
15 Cfr, Ibidem
Mario Kaplun is considered a precursor of educommunication for his holistic vision of communication, being an educator by profession, he placed himself with a communicative gaze on the broad spectrum of training and integration of thought from the critical use of the media.
In the antipodes of the emerging paradigm, it identifies the essence of thought in the perspective of process and articulation of differences, from a democratic perspective, open and committed to the common good.
The research heritage of this man who achieved a balance in the scientific and implicative development of alternative communication, contributes to the construction of an education - communication based on dialogue as a strategy for the emancipation and liberation of people and societies.
The history of Educommunication has in Mario Kaplun one of its strongest props because with keenness of thought he proposes from the integrative vision of dialogical communication the possibility of forming social partners involved in the transformation process, which throughout decades of militarism , rebellions and democracy have gradually formed the consciousness of individuals and societies.
In this sense, it is important that communication processes seek the active participation of the population from a pedagogical perspective, which not only serves to impart knowledge, but is an act of collaborative learning, reflection and mutual action, logic of processes that involves learning from own mistakes, assume the conflict as a possibility to generate new responses jointly and collaboratively. 16
16 Cfr. Kaplún, M., 1998, A pedagogy of communication, Madrid, Ed. De la torre,, p. 51