Why critical literacy should turn to ‘the affective turn’: making a case for critical affective literacy

Abstract

The central argument of this essay is that critical literacy with a rationalistic bent may not enable us to cope with ethical dilemmas in our responsiveness to human sufferings. I argue that critical literacy education would benefit from turning to the recent scholarship on affect/emotion studies. I draw upon the works of Sara Ahmed – one of the leading contributors to critical affect studies – to shed light on what is called a regulatory power that creates a schism in our responsiveness to violence and suffering. The key contribution of this essay is to present an actionable framework of what I describe as critical affective literacy. To delineate this framework, I present four pedagogical principles, along with examples of instructional activities.

Keywords:

• affect
• emotion
• violence
• critical literacy
• critical affective literacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Express consent has been obtained from Rebecca Doverspike to quote from her Facebook post.

2. Wilson’s Testimony, 25 November 2014. Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown on 9 August 2014 in Ferguson, MO. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson for killing Brown.

3. I use the word ‘author’ in a broad sense to include Wilson who, in a conventional sense, should be called a ‘speaker’. I quote from his testimony retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/25/366519644/ferguson-docs-officer-darren-wilsons-testimony