Teaching Literature of Resistance, Part II

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What Is the Relationship between Critical Literacy and Citizenship?

Part I of this mini-series

As I continue to draft the syllabus and calendar of my "Literature of Resistance" course for 2015 Spring, I ask myself what I want from the students -- not in the form of assessment material, not as quizzes and papers -- but what they will teach me about their own literacy in 2014 2015 from their life experiences. My students are among the people I respect most in this world -- honest, frank, true, loyal, friendly, scared, vulnerable, brave, and full of humor. These are people -- humans, adults -- I want to surround myself with in my life. Their experiences with literacy and citizenship are different than mine, and so they have much to teach me. I hope to present the entire course, then, as a form of critical literacy where we all learn from each other. It's my place to facilitate discussion and to teach writing strategies, but I expect to learn from their discussions and learn some writing strategies from them as well.

The current base reading list is looking like this, with two notes:

  1. The students will modify and approve the reading list during the first week and we'll re-examine the list throughout the semester to see if the texts meet our growing and changing needs to practice critical literacy;
  2. I have multiple alternative texts for small group special projects that I'll discuss in a later post. 
Though the catalog describes this as a special problems literature course, I frame the argument actually within critical literacy -- not as a Harold Bloom-esque canon of literature, but texts that question power structures through European, North and South American, even South African and Southeast Asian histories. Currently, the list looks like this, revised:


Enlightenment & Ideals
  • Safi, Amir, “Brown Boy, White House” 
  • Locke, Second Treatise Concerning Civil Government
  • French Declaration
  • US Declaration
  • Virginia Declaration
  • UN Declaration
  • Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed (selections)
  • Anzaldua, “How to Tame a Wild Wild Tongue”
  • Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the Rights of Women” (selections)
Human Slavery
  • Jeremyah The Fluent One Payne, “Home of the …” 
  • Sojourner Truth: (selections)
    • Ain’t I a Woman  
  • Fitzhugh, George, “Cannibals, All! OR Slaves Without Masters” <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35481/35481-h/35481-h.htm#Page_106> 
  • Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. Query XIV/14: Laws 
  • Douglass, Frederick. 
    • Narrative of the Life (selections)
    • “What to the Negro is the Fourth of July”
  • Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. (selections)
  • Safi, Amir, “Thanksgiving” 
Civil Rights/ Revolution/ Modern Slavery/ Prison-Industrial Complex
  • Weissel, Eli. “The Perils of Indifference” 
  • Valenzuela, Substractive Schooling Ch 2 (Austin HS)
  • Chavez (selections)
    • Address to Commonwealth Club of California
  • Baldwin
    • Go Tell it On the Mountain (video)
    • "Village" 
    • “Report from Occupied America” 
    • Sonny’s Blues  
  • Nelson Mandela
    • “I am Prepared to Die”
    • Release from Prison 
  • King
    • “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
    • “I have a Dream” <video> 
    • Debate with Malcolm X 
  • Malcolm X
    • U California Berkeley (video)
    • “House Negro and Field Negro” <audio>
    • Ballot or the Bullet <audio  and  Text 
  • Bobby Sands (selections)
  • Occupy Wall Street
    • Naomi Klein, “The Most Important Thing in the World Now” (OWS) 
    • Slavoj Žižek, “Don’t Fall in Love with Yourselves” 
Yes, I realize it's impossible to due justice to each of these texts, but we'll be working in small groups for some, and, as I explained, the students will be choosing which texts they'll want to address overall. I plan to practice critical literacy as we discuss critical literacy. Form and meaning.

Why Critical Literacy

Critical literacy skills are vital for citizens of an increasingly “global village” (McLuhan, 1962). The instant availability of information and misinformation from all corners of the world requires that readers sort through the barrage of messages, analyzing them for truth, authenticity, and integrity. Critically literate citizens are less vulnerable to propaganda because they understand the role of values and beliefs, and consider the sources from which these messages emanate.

The notion of civic literacy is central to a revitalized civics education movement. The Center for Information on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) has called for an overhaul of civics education in the U.S., noting that the majority of current curricula emphasize “great American heroes and virtues,” but lack critical analysis of injustice in the American system (2004). Importantly, young people ages 15–25 who had been exposed to this approach to civics education were “more trusting,” an arguably dangerous belief in a complex world, while the small minority (9%) who had experienced a curriculum emphasizing critical examination of social injustices such as racism were the most likely to be registered voters. At a time when civic engagement is more important than ever, it would seem that critical analysis of, and within, a democratic system yields a more engaged citizenry. The point should not be lost that the freedom to engage in this discourse is possible because of a democratic system.

Promoting Civic Engagement through Critical Literacy

Critical literacy often involves the use of essential questions developed for students to use in constructing understanding. For example, the three questions cited by the Tasmanian Department of Education (referenced above) can serve as excellent general essential questions. In addition to these broad questions, we advocate the use of specific questions that promote civic engagement. Students can use two such questions to examine the beliefs,values, and experiences of Americans:

• How do multiple perspectives enhance and inhibit the practice of freedom?
• What is our responsibility as citizens to preserve the freedoms of others?

To answer these questions, students must engage with a wide variety of texts and they must be encouraged to focus on big ideas.

For the next post, I'll organizes the text selections above around four big ideas that students can explore as they read and learn to become critically aware. I'll also discuss the engagement strategies so that we learn together through liberatory pedagogy.
  • Examining Personal Freedom
  • Examining Social Injustices
  • Examining Controversial Topics
  • Examining a Call to Action

References

McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. L. (2004). Critical literacy: Enhancing students’ comprehension of text. New York: Scholastic.

Paul, R. (1993). Critical Thinking: What Every Student Needs to Survive in A Rapidly Changing World, Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation For Critical Thinking). Retrieved April 3, 2007 from http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/ct-moral-integrity.cfm, ¶ 58.


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Dixi et salvavi animam meam
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