Critical Pedagogy

[genoveva]

I'm doing some research on Critical Pedagogy and would like recommendations for pieces of literature that are good examples of issues such as:

race
ethnicity
gender
class
culture
(multiculturalism)
social justice
(political, socio/cultural awareness)
equity
(power, gender, voice)
equality

I'm mainly looking for literature, but would also take some music (with lyrics) and film recommendations.

Thanks for any feedback!

[Isagel]

I would suggest Orlando, by Virginia Woolf. There is a discussion about it in the Book club. Of course, it depends on what you are looking for. A critical review of Uncle Tom in terms of power, gender, class and equality could be interesting. Do you want a book that is an example of critical thinking or something that is easy to pinpoint issues in when looking at it critically?

[genoveva]

Do you want a book that is an example of critical thinking or something that is easy to pinpoint issues in when looking at it critically?

Both!
I'm appreciative of all feedback, thanks!

[Pensive]

The post was not related to the thread.

[Nightshade]

I have somthing a bit odd but thats me for you,
try the Secret garden, in the chapter Martha I think, theres quite alot of things about class, you have the thing where if marath had benn a proper ladies maid she would have know it was her place to pick up after MAry but she is only a common kitchen girl from the moor. Then you have the bit about natives, blacks Pigs and daughters of pigs, ignorance etc.

[Whifflingpin]

I was not aware of the term "critical pedagogy" so I used Google and found this definition: "Critical pedagogy takes as a central concern the issue of power in the teaching and learning context. It focuses on how and in whose interests knowledge is produced and 'passed on' and view the ideal aims of education as emancipatory."

So "Lies my Teacher Told Me" by Loewen, apart from being a very readable and interesting book, might be a description of history teaching from a critically pedagogic standpoint. Loewen uses the contrast between "Uncle Tom" and "Gone with the Wind" for illustration, amongst other things.

How about Lady C's Lover, not just that Lady C has an affair with the gamekeeper, but also that this gamekeeper had been an officer in the Guards - so the class system is actually re-inforced not confronted.

How about, for music (sic) the "Star Spangled Banner?"

Oroonoco, by Aphra Benn.

Does anyone read Chandler Harris's "Uncle Remus" anymore? - great literature, and whether the answer be yes or no, a pudding full of issue plums.

"Giles Goat-Boy" by John Barth - that's got to be the "Revelations" of C20th literature - you can make it illustrate anything you want, and get any answer you like from it.

.

[PeterL]

You might want to look the Enuma Elish. It looked at all of those issues before any other literature did.

[Virgil]

I think Ralph Ellison's Invisble Man might satisfy your requirements on race.

BTW, what kind of an assignment is this? It seems like it has a political agenda.

[TodHackett]

Some titles you may not have, and may not get from other people, b/c some of these are a bit obscure:

-Anything by Sherman Alexie, esp. _Indian Killer_ or _The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven_
-Jamaica Kincaid, _A Small Place_
-John Okada, _No No Boy_
-_Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions_ (by Lame Deer, I think)
-_These Were the Sioux_ (by Sandoz???)
-Hirsch, _Cultural Literacy_
-Kozol, _Savage Inequalities_
-Postman, _The End of Education_
-Kesey, _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_
-Giovanni, _Black Talk, Black Feeling, Black Judgment_

I could give more but I won't. If you'd like more suggestions, let me know...

[Whifflingpin]

"BTW, what kind of an assignment is this? It seems like it has a political agenda."


"The primary preoccupation of Critical Pedagogy is with social injustice and how to transform inequitable, undemocratic, or oppressive institutions and social relations. ... "
quoted in the site http://www.csd.uwa.edu.au/altmodes/t..._pedagogy.html from which the definition above was taken.

Critical Pedagogy appears to have a political agenda.

[genoveva]

Critical Pedagogy appears to have a political agenda.

Yes, I suppose it would be correct to say that it does have a political agenda- one whose purpose is to expose inequalities and inequities. Usually when I hear the phrase "political agenda" I cringe, but....

As I understand it, Critical Pedagogy seeks to examine what is "taught" that may or may not be explicit.

[genoveva]

I could give more but I won't. If you'd like more suggestions, let me know...

Thanks so much, yes~ I would like even more suggestions! Thanks.
The Kozol and Hirsch are non-ficition I assume?

[Nightshade]

ha I knew I should have looked it up ah well making a fool of myself isnt somthing new

[genoveva]

You might want to look the Enuma Elish. It looked at all of those issues before any other literature did.

Thanks, that is an unfamiliar name, I will check into it.

[genoveva]

So "Lies my Teacher Told Me" by Loewen, apart from being a very readable and interesting book, might be a description of history teaching from a critically pedagogic standpoint.

How about, for music (sic) the "Star Spangled Banner?"

Oroonoco, by Aphra Benn.

Does anyone read Chandler Harris's "Uncle Remus" anymore? - great literature, and whether the answer be yes or no, a pudding full of issue plums.

"Giles Goat-Boy" by John Barth - that's got to be the "Revelations" of C20th literature - you can make it illustrate anything you want, and get any answer you like from it.

.

Thanks, these are some things I had not considered. And thanks for reminding me about Loewen's book- I pulled it out of my book case! I had purchased it a few months ago and have not had a chance look through it yet. So many books, so little time...