Thinking about Critical Literacy and Social Justice

I'm organizing my thoughts in preparation for contributing to our class voicethread. Here are some quotes I liked from the reading:

Marc Aronson says, "The 'multi' in multicultural is, at its best, the many selves within each of us, not our melanin count or epicanthic folds." I love the idea that each person contains "many selves" and I also like Aronson's insistence that true multi-culturalism is about embracing the many facets of humanity, rather than merely noticing skin tone, socio-economic status, or nationality.

I also agreed with Aronson's critique of the "small world" approach to multi-culturalism. While it's true that people are people (as Depeche Mode so wisely explained) it's also true that there are many different ways for people to be people. Insisting that we are not really so different is like saying that because chocolate and strawberries and broccoli are all foods, they are really not so very different and should be treated as more or less equivalent. Any child knows such an assertion is plainly ridiculous.

Cummins and Sayers take a pragmatic approach to multi-culturalism in the classroom, asserting that "instruction that ignores or denies students' cultural identity is unlikely to be successful in improving academic achievement."

Linking multi-culturalism to literacy, the Tasmanian Department of Education reminds us that "language and literacy do not occur in a vacuum" and quotes Allan Luke: "Literacy ... is as much about ideologies, identities and values as it is about codes and skills."

When we read texts critically, according to the Tasmanian DoE, we take an "active, challenging approach" to analyzing and making meaning. Aronson suggests that what we read has an impact on how we read. Authentically multicultural texts give "all power to the reader" Aronson says.

In my opinion, a text invites critical analysis when it raises questions, introduces complex characters, represents multiple viewpoints, and/or explicitly acknowledges the author's own biases.

Learn NC provided the most comprehensive definition of critical literacy:
"The ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships."

In my opinion, this definition is overly restrictive, but I agree wholeheartedly that critical literacy is about reading texts actively, with an eye toward making meaning, not only about the text, but about the world in which we live.

Finally, I especially liked Edward White's succinct phrase "informed skepticism." I think that sums up the crux of critical literacy: asking questions about what one reads based on one's knowledge of the world. Ideally, this generates a scholarly cycle in which the reader filters texts through her knowledge/experience of the world, and then incorporates her reading into her world-knowledge and uses it to filter additional texts. The point is not merely to filter everything through one's own lens (although we all do that, anyway), but rather to read within the context of the world...and perhaps to "read" the world, in turn, through the multi-faceted lens reading helps us construct.

So...I think I'm gonna sleep on this, and record tomorrow...