Crit. Conscious Research Chapters 4-6

This week's reading was interesting and created interesting perspectives on the use of CDA, or Critical Discourse Analysis. CCR defines CDA as "language use in speech and writing as a form of social practice...the discursive event is shaped by situations, institutions and social structures, but it also shapes them." It also describes how CDA represents the minority, or underprivileged, and emphasizes anti-racism and anti-bias in research. I agree that effective research needs to be as objective as possible and this theoretical perspective can help researchers achieve accurate results in their projects. 

Trainor examines White identity and racism among English majors using CDA. What is interesting to me is that there are no apparent "White identities." In mixed group settings I have observed that Whites are quiet when it comes to race discussions. The more subtle forms of language may be a factor to be both acknowledged and discovered, but as a white person I find this subject challenging. This of course means that it does not exist, but my understanding of scenarios "normalize" subjective bias. 

Now for my rant:

I am not a fan of this book because it uses high-level language to bring its points across. In a way, I think it attempts to make the reader feel intelligent or stupid, depending on your perspective. The other focus of the book is to “fight the power” but really ideologies are oppressive as well as ethnocentricities (belief that one’s culture is superior to another). The fact of the matter is that people who focus on how different we are takes a negative approach to cultural relations. I take from this book the examples of how to recognize bias and attempt to minimize it in the researchers eyes. In that aspect, the book is wonderful. However, this book does not attempt to put things in “laymans’ terms” and does not reach a large audience. The lack of pictures and explanatory endnotes makes this a difficult read. The next critique is the use of “Collins’s model of analysis.” The book vaguely describes this model on page 65.

Wow, what a rant. The most important part of Critically Conscious Research is to identity bias and other factors that reduce objectivity. The different parts of critical ideologies include passive opposition to activist declarations. I think that the most apparent concept of critical ideologies is the activist declarations. You can see this types of ideologies in politics, such as the extreme views of political parties, especially when one ideology triumphs over another. The biggest problem is that these oppressive ideologies are rarely challenged. My view of “normality” demonstrates how I’m not challenging “assumed cultural norms.” I hope that in the future I can recognize oppressive ideologies and seek to understand the “oppression of normalcy.”

Thanks for reading!