Abstract
In this paper, I argue that critical literacy is essentially a rationalist activity that does not sufficiently address the non-rational investments that readers bring with them to texts and tasks. I begin by looking at playful advertising texts that work with humour and the transgressive in order to consider the role of pleasure rather than reason. Then I examine the force of powerful identifications in relation to reason to show that educational interventions cannot ignore them. Finally, I tentatively suggest that we may need to find ways to combine socio-cultural and psycho-analytic theory in order to imagine new directions for pedagogy in the critical literacy classroom.
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Janks, H. Critical literacy: Beyond reason. Aust. Educ. Res. 29, 7–26 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219767
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219767