On Critically Conscious Research makes it clear to the reader from the introduction that they are detaching from ongoing, meaty conversations focused on critical theory. It serves as an introductory text for researchers to understand the history of Critical Theory and critical theories, as well as how these theories are applied to language and literacy education and pedagogy.
Chapter 1 focuses on the framework for understanding Critical Theory, and focuses on the work of Kant, Hegel, Marx, and generations of the Frankfurt School. The chapter focuses also on the ideas that "understanding critical consciousness is foundational to understanding critical theorizing" and "at the heart of critical theorizing is critical consciousness" (3). The authors also recognize that these theorists recognized critical consciousness as residing in the lives of White males and does not recognize people of Color or women as oppressed people. By informing the researcher of the history of Critical Theory, the authors seem to believe they can make the researcher more aware of the larger context of the theory and is application through history.
Chapter 2 provides a connection between how Critical Theory began and how it has changed over time. The authors cite Hall when he says, "We need to...make sense of the connections with where we think we are then as compared to where we are now" (15). The chapter discusses how other theorists have challenged or built upon previous theorists such as Marx. Gramsci, a Marxist, further develops ideas about oppression outside of class boundaries. Hegemony "has come to mean any form of domination that implies power, although more modern ideas also propose that the oppressed an effect change. Hegemony is never complete; it is always shifting, changing, and adjusting to ideological an cultural struggles" (20). The chapter further discusses ways that new theorists have discussed critical theory, often because previous theories were not universal, and often left out the voices of other oppressed groups.
One sentence in Chapter 3, really I think sums up the point of this chapter: "While the West envisages itself as transcending race/ethnicity and gender oppression, silences about past and current colonization, genocide, imperialism, and mass murders are constant reminders of human rights abuses and human suffering" (33). This chapter calls into question why the West believes this and the system of education that has led to this belief, which fosters racism and sexism. It recognizes that part of the problem is that everything is compared to Whiteness, Whiteness being acultural in some way, as a "norm" in which everything else exists in relation to it. This is not discussed in education and white privilege is often ignored although it perpetuates itself in education and literacy pedagogy.
This part really resonated with me as I recalled my education K-12. Everything was always, thinking back, whiteness. We never talked about that. All other peoples discussed in history class were "others", always compared and contrasted to white people, as though the other people were somehow deficient. We never heard their voices-- only the voices of white people talking about them. In the same way, we never discussed things at a global level. If we talked about World War II, it was only from the perspective of the United States. As though our way, our ideology was the norm, and anyone not in agreement was deficient in some way. We didn't value the thoughts, beliefs, values, or practices of anyone different from us. It is scary to me now, thinking back, that it seemed NATURAL, even though it wasn't. That racism and sexism are perpetuated in education, which is something that we usually view as opening our minds, might actually be closing them off.
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