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Keywords

Critical pedagogy, Multi-cultural Education, Postmodern Education, Pedagogy of Identity

Document Type

Article in Response to Controversy

Abstract

The article seeks to highlight the fundamental weaknesses of the postmodern concept of Public identity as it appears in critical pedagogy. Although these versions of critical pedagogy present their goals in the positive terms of achieving freedom and liberation from oppression, they tend to disregard the complex dialectical nature of identity and its positive aspects. I claim that such concepts fail to grasp the concrete nature of identity by not acknowledging the immanent tensions between the individual and the collective and between liberation and empowerment. I argue that these postmodern stances lead to suppression of identity and the reduction of humanity. Through its critical examination, this article hopes to re-establish the dialectical nature of concrete identity and its importance for critical pedagogy.

Genre/Form

articles

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Critical pedagogy--United States; Multicultural education--United States; Postmodernism and education; Identity

Geographic Coverage

United States

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

Type

Text

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Education Commons

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