On Critically Conscious Research Ch. 1-3

So far I am really enjoying On Critically Conscious Research. I was drawn to the study of rhetoric as an undergraduate by rhetoric's main purpose as a tool to enact social change. Rhetoric is the effective use of persuasion that incorporates logos, ethos, and pathos to move the minds and hearts of the audience to action. By this definition, it can be applied to any issue that the rhetor wishes to create understanding of or empathy for, making it useful for any field of study or interdisciplinary work. Willis et al say that "the heart of critical theorizing is critical consciousness" which is an individual's awareness of his or her self and the external world, including other cultures and races (3). Critical consciousness involves examining social and cultural issues in a way that seeks to encourage universal justice and equality, making it the basis for ethical rhetoric and research.

Rhetoric encourages critical thinking skills by teaching rhetors how to examine an argument from different angles, search for logical fallacies, and answer any possible objections. By learning what rhetoric is and how it is used, people can gain a more objective view of the world and increase their critical consciousness. Therefore rhetoric is both a method for enhancing critical consciousness and a vehicle for practicing critical theory, with both aspects being interrelated and interactive.

Willis et al describe many different perspectives that critical theory is applied to, including aspects of race, gender, social class and language. These different perspectives often intersect and combine in different ways, creating a complex matrix of various viewpoints that critical theory researchers can and must take to study a related group of individuals. Critical theory encourages equality and understanding of all peoples, moving away from the Western, Euro-centric cultural norms that are so pervasive within the educational system of the United States.

While reading these chapters, I was reminded of an essay I read for another class last week,"Postcolonial Interventions in the Rhetorical Canon" by Raka Shome. She asserts that the rhetorical canon needs to be completely overhauled to include women and minorities, not by simply including their writings with those of White, European men, but by changing the way we view the entire canon. Shome also states that when women and minorities are brought into the existing canon, they are still the "other" in relation to White men, so their position within the rhetorical canon is unchanged. This principle can be broadened to include any canon of knowledge that is so heavily anchored in White Euro-centrism, so we must begin examining all cultures through the lens of critical theory and creating canons that reflect the postmodern, globalized world.