On Critically Concious Research: Blog

“Critically conscious language and literacy researchers aim to deconstruct, demystify, and articulate the relationship among disparate beliefs, thoughts, and actions, as well as to illustrate how these influence equality and social justice” (52).

               This week’s reading seemed to cover a vast amount of theories in which any student could use in their thesis or dissertation. Even though it seemed borderline overwhelming at some points, I know I will see these theories again, if I do not utilize them myself. Just a few days ago I was reading Hip Hop Intellectual Resistance by A. Shahid Stover in which he uses the phrase “‘neo-colonial’ American Ghetto” to describe the modern, oppressed African-Americans which in turn is the creative foundation for the Hip Hop culture, respectively. His phrase stems from the ideologies behind The Black Panther Party’s embracing Fanon’s viewpoint of “humanizing Black consciousness” (21). There are numerous rhetorical connections similar to this example that are becoming more apparent to me, the further I read.

               What are interesting to me are the underlying connections that are seen throughout every section. All of the topics or methodologies that every chapter has discussed have included a level of language and/ or a level of experience. This notion of communication and experience is blatantly in-your-face, but this book has not discussed or commented of any of the rhetorical strategies that critically conscious research includes. Although I am still a fan of this book, and I do appreciate the compilation of various different types of critical theories; I do find myself correlating this book and the text for Rhetorical Theory often while I read. One the other hand I would consider that a positive aspect rather than a negative!

               In chapter five as well as chapter six, the text was primarily concerned with the structures of power, how they maintained the power through literacies, and how different critical theories can be used to combat the powers in charge. One issue that stood out to me was the two contradicting, coexisting beliefs that face indigenous cultures when they oppose the government. The government has rules and regulations in place to stifle their culture but at the same time the government allows them rights to work within the system. These parameters cause indigenous cultures to become stagnant and therefore remain dependant. This trait is all to commonly seen and enhanced in the indigenous communities. What stood out is the fact that this could be juxtaposed with almost any oppressed individual. Just the frequency in exploitation in America is disgraceful.