Critical Literacy: Reading the self, texts and the world

Catalog description

This course is designed as a collaborative inquiry toward constructing and elaborating theories of practice as teachers and/or researchers of reading. Using a seminar or working group format, participants explore the relationships among theory, reading, practice, pedagogy and research. The course's conceptualization is informed primarily by (1) frameworks from critical, feminist and culturally-centered literatures which foreground issues of equity, representation, and ethics; and (2) current conversations in the field of literacy where the definitions, purposes, and practices of reading have been made problematic. It also invites participants to engage the notion that knowledge for teaching and research comes from inquiry into the questions, issues, and contradictions that arise from everyday life. The course provides historical lenses for comparative analyses of theoretical frameworks and research paradigms as well as opportunities to investigate participants' individual histories as well as teaching and research interests.