| Synopsis: |
Making the case that the critical social theories often associated with Critical Discourse Analysis have not kept pace with a recent shift in attention toward the positive, referred to as Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) or reconstructive discourse analysis, this book focuses on discourses of hope, transformation, and liberation. Original research conducted by the author in public, educational spaces across the lifespan features a variety of powerful literacies in action: Kindergartners studying a workers' rights movement in their classroom community, 6th graders designing a social justice museum exhibit focused on the environment and sustainability, teacher education students practicing racial literacy in response to the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and an elected school board influencing public policy. Readers are invited to rethink their understanding of concepts such as power, action, context, critique and reflexivity as they move across the chapters in the book. Reclaiming Powerful Literacies provides a unique, reflexive framework for Critical Discourse Analysis with diverse publics. The point is not to capture "the methods" but, rather, to provide many examples of the potential of theorizing discourse analysis from a positive orientation. |