Introduction
The use of critical lenses provides students and teachers with tools to reframe their analytic approaches by considering alternative perspectives. Providing scholarly resources to students in this context grounds discussion and research in the context of academic work. Although we certainly recognize that students are experts in their own experiences, pairing personal anecdote with scholarly sources is important in the research process. Additionally, the inclusion of scholarly sources communicates to students that they can and should draw evidence from more than just their own stories, and can provide access to students for whom sharing their own stories is not possible or would make them unsafe.
It is important to note here that teachers should be prepared for student reaction to the discomfort inherent in addressing these often ignored elements the systems of power that frame our interactions with each other. For many students, these lenses and theories are a welcome relief, a vocabulary for ways of understanding the world that are familiar and recognizable, though the language itself may be new. Other lenses and theories may turn our worlds upside down, especially when they ask us to address our own privilege, perhaps for the first time, and begin to comprehend the world from another point of view. Some students may fall into defensiveness and rejection of perspectives that conflict with their own. Working through these responses is part of the learning process, but it is vital that teachers recognize when the students’ defensiveness threatens the classroom community. We believe in decentering teacher expertise to allow students to recognize and develop their own agency, but this should not mean that you forgo your responsibility to protect your students from the harm that they can cause each other through unchecked discussion and interaction. You should trust your established classroom structures for dialogue and overall culture building, but you should also trust yourself to know when to step in and to consistently and intentionally reflect on your own participation in addressing these challenging ideas.
It is important to note here that teachers should be prepared for student reaction to the discomfort inherent in addressing these often ignored elements the systems of power that frame our interactions with each other. For many students, these lenses and theories are a welcome relief, a vocabulary for ways of understanding the world that are familiar and recognizable, though the language itself may be new. Other lenses and theories may turn our worlds upside down, especially when they ask us to address our own privilege, perhaps for the first time, and begin to comprehend the world from another point of view. Some students may fall into defensiveness and rejection of perspectives that conflict with their own. Working through these responses is part of the learning process, but it is vital that teachers recognize when the students’ defensiveness threatens the classroom community. We believe in decentering teacher expertise to allow students to recognize and develop their own agency, but this should not mean that you forgo your responsibility to protect your students from the harm that they can cause each other through unchecked discussion and interaction. You should trust your established classroom structures for dialogue and overall culture building, but you should also trust yourself to know when to step in and to consistently and intentionally reflect on your own participation in addressing these challenging ideas.
CRITICAL LENSES
Overview
Appleman describes that “Critical lenses provide students with a way of reading their world; the lenses provide a way of ‘seeing’ differently and analytically that can help them read the culture of school as well as popular culture” (p. 4, 2014). The application of lenses provides a structured way to consider a concept, text, or occurrence from a new perspective. This practice of reframing by intentionally taking a new point of view helps students to develop empathy, a skill transferable to interpersonal communication and participation in democratic society. To introduce critical lenses, a teacher might provide a single text to the whole class, but ask groups to each answer questions about the text through the application of an assigned lens. The discussion following this exercise demonstrates that analysis from various points of view can lead to various, equally valid conclusions.
The lenses listed here are meant to serve as an introductory set. Several more are included in the section below.
Critical Race Theory Lens (CRT) questions how privileges, policy, and power intersect in regards to race. For example, a CRT lens may consider how it is youth of color who are primarily affected by the school to prison pipeline.
Feminist Criticism considers how patriartichal systems of power marginalize individuals who identify or are percieved as female. For example, a feminist critique of strict school dress codes would relate how these dress codes disproportionately affect female students
since the emphasis is on female students having to keep themselves “covered” in order not to “distract” male students rather than on teaching male students to not objectify female bodies.
Gender Studies and Queer Theory explores sexuality, gender, and power. This lens delineates that gender is separate from biological sex and deconstructs the binary of male and female to offer a larger perspective of how individuals interact with their expression of gender and who they may or may not be sexuality attracted to. For example, a gender analysis of school bathrooms may show how non-binary and transgender students may not have access to a bathroom they feel comfortable using.
Class/ Socio-economic/ Marxist Criticism examines class differences in regards to what bodies do what kinds of work and who benefits from that labor. A class analysis of public education funding through property taxes may find that poorer neighborhoods receive less funding and thus unequal resources.
Critical Dis/Ability Lens is concerned with prejudice against individuals with physical and mental disabilities. It also explores the depiction of the disabled and questions the definition of “normal.” For example, a Critical Dis/ability examination of how many accessible entrances to school may show how individuals with disabilities must navigate around the spaces that should be publicly available to all.
Ecocriticism Lens critiques the way humans interact and describe the environment and questions what is “nature.” For example, an ecocritical lense might examine the amount of waste that a school produces and how it affects the environment.
Reader Response Lens focuses on the reader’s reaction to a text and recognizes that a reader does not passively consume a text but rather interacts with a text. For example, a student reading Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird” might start thinking about the ways they feel trapped in their own lives and thus have a deeper emotional response to the poem.
The lenses listed here are meant to serve as an introductory set. Several more are included in the section below.
Critical Race Theory Lens (CRT) questions how privileges, policy, and power intersect in regards to race. For example, a CRT lens may consider how it is youth of color who are primarily affected by the school to prison pipeline.
Feminist Criticism considers how patriartichal systems of power marginalize individuals who identify or are percieved as female. For example, a feminist critique of strict school dress codes would relate how these dress codes disproportionately affect female students
since the emphasis is on female students having to keep themselves “covered” in order not to “distract” male students rather than on teaching male students to not objectify female bodies.
Gender Studies and Queer Theory explores sexuality, gender, and power. This lens delineates that gender is separate from biological sex and deconstructs the binary of male and female to offer a larger perspective of how individuals interact with their expression of gender and who they may or may not be sexuality attracted to. For example, a gender analysis of school bathrooms may show how non-binary and transgender students may not have access to a bathroom they feel comfortable using.
Class/ Socio-economic/ Marxist Criticism examines class differences in regards to what bodies do what kinds of work and who benefits from that labor. A class analysis of public education funding through property taxes may find that poorer neighborhoods receive less funding and thus unequal resources.
Critical Dis/Ability Lens is concerned with prejudice against individuals with physical and mental disabilities. It also explores the depiction of the disabled and questions the definition of “normal.” For example, a Critical Dis/ability examination of how many accessible entrances to school may show how individuals with disabilities must navigate around the spaces that should be publicly available to all.
Ecocriticism Lens critiques the way humans interact and describe the environment and questions what is “nature.” For example, an ecocritical lense might examine the amount of waste that a school produces and how it affects the environment.
Reader Response Lens focuses on the reader’s reaction to a text and recognizes that a reader does not passively consume a text but rather interacts with a text. For example, a student reading Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird” might start thinking about the ways they feel trapped in their own lives and thus have a deeper emotional response to the poem.
Resources
Eight Critical Lenses
Lens Handouts: (a) Critical Race Theory Lens; (b) Feminist Criticism; (c) Gender Studies and Queer Theory; (d) Marxist Criticism; (e) Critical Dis/Ability Lens (f) Ecocriticism Lens (g) Reader Response Lens.
Adapted from Critical Encounters: A Sample of Critical Lenses
List of readings arranged by topic
Lens Handouts: (a) Critical Race Theory Lens; (b) Feminist Criticism; (c) Gender Studies and Queer Theory; (d) Marxist Criticism; (e) Critical Dis/Ability Lens (f) Ecocriticism Lens (g) Reader Response Lens.
Adapted from Critical Encounters: A Sample of Critical Lenses
List of readings arranged by topic
FINDING TEXTUAL RESOURCES IN RESPONSE TO SPECIFIC STUDENT CONTEXTS
Below are key concepts/lenses and banks of resources that we have seen as useful in the Humanities Amped context arranged into categories of application. These categories are:
We have found that students need to learn about how their identities are positioned within social contexts (Reading Identity). Students also need to know how to analyze systemic power and be able to understand how institutions interact with one another to affect individuals (Reading Systems of Power). Within the Reading Systems of Power category is the case study of Education. We focus on this case study because all students have direct life experiences in education, so it can be a generative thematic study that everyone has some stake in. The Racial and Criminal Justice case study shows the disparity in how the criminal justice system handles bodies of color, which is something that surfaces as a recurrent theme for students in Humanities Amped. Finally, students need to understand the power found in their own communities to work against oppression (Reading Community).
READING IDENTITY
Lens/Concept |
Overview |
Resources |
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Intersectionality
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Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality (1990) illustrates that social categories such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability intersect resulting in varying advantages and disadvantages for individuals according to the social contexts they are part of. An intersectional lens shows how individuals based on their intersecting identity points are differently positioned within their social structures. Intersectionality teaches that social categories and lenses cannot be examined in isolation from each other since they interact in people’s lives. For example, a black woman would not experience gender inequalities in the same way a white woman would, nor would she experience racial injustice in the same way as a black man. Intersectionality also allows students to see how a person can experience both privilege and oppression simultaneously.
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Crenshaw, K. (1990). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stan. L. Rev., 43, 1241.
Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. John Wiley & Sons. |
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Gender
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Gender refers to an individual being associated with female or male traits in relation to social and cultural roles. While gender has traditionally been seen as a binary of male and female, individuals who identify as gender queer, nonbinary, and gender noncomforming expand gender to a larger spectrum. Gender lenses allow students to see the gendered roles and stereotypes (“women are emotional,” “women belong in the kitchen,” “men don’t cry,” “boys will be boys”). Gender-based discrimination includes: Sexism - the oppression of individuals perceived as female. Transphobia - discrimination against individuals whose personal identity and gender do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth.
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Sexuality
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Sexuality refers to an individual’s sexual orientation. Sexuality lense allows students to recognize how heterosexual love is often forefronted and seen as normal (heteronormativity), while homosexuality has historically been criminalized and patholgoized (homophobia).
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Race/Ethnicity
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Race refers to a social construct designed to separate individual based on physical characteristics, specifically skin color. Ethnicity refers to a racial sub-group based on descent and culture. Studying race allows students to see the historical oppression against people of color and the societal privileges of those considered White (White Privilege).
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Dis/ability
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Ability refers to what an individual is able to do mentally and physically. Thinking about disability helps students challenge what is perceived as “normal” and allows them to recognize disability not as a tragedy but as a part of human diversity.
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Class
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Class refers to a social division based on wealth. Thinking through class allows students to consider which bodies do what type of work and to consider which classes benefit from what kind of labor.
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Nationality/Immigration Status
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Nationality refers to what country an individual is born and the legal privileges and disadvantages of being a citizen or not being a citizen of the country one inhabits. A nationality and immigration lense allows students to think about the rights they have as citizens as well as the reasons people might immigrate. Students can also come to learn about the historical trends to vilify incoming immigrants (xenophobia).
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Age
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Age refers to the length of time someone has lived. Looking through an age lens allows youth to see how historically youth have limited rights and are stereotyped as reckless, superficial, and unmotivated, and to see how the elderly are viewed as out-of-touch and offering no value to society, while middle-aged adults are seen as put together, capable, and completely knowledgeable.
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Critical Youth Studies: Read introduction of Cammarota, Julio, and Michelle Fine, eds. (2010). Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion. Routledge.
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Religion/ Spirituality
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Religion and spirituality refers to believing in a higher power or god. Thinking through religion can help students question the dominance of Christianity as well as the prevalence of anti-Semetism, Islamophobia, and other religious prejudice.
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Postcolonial
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A postcolonial lens examines the effects of colonization. This lens allows students to question the dominance of the Western literary canon and become aware of the exotification and exploitation of the East.
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Postcolonial Lens Purdue Overview
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Ecocriticism
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Ecocriticism studies the environment from an intersectional view. It allows students to think about the interaction of humans with their surroundings, particularly the earth and other species, and question what is meant by “nature.”
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Ecocriticism Lens Purdue Overview
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READING Systems of Power
Lens/Concept |
Overview |
Resources |
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Circuits of Dispossession
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Circuits of Dispossession is a “conceptual framework for studying how structural injustice moves under the skin of privileged and marginalized individuals” (Fine, p. 22, 2014). This framework shifts away from asking what is wrong with the victims and instead contests “social determinism and naı ̈ve individualism” (ibid), and analyzing how growing up in inequality shapes how people see injustices. A circuits analysis allows students to look at the underlying structures that shape an individual’s place in their world.
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Circuits and Consequences of Dispossession: The Racialized Realignment of the Public Sphere for U.S. Youth
Fine, M (2014). Circuits of Dispossession and Privilege. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology 227-234. |
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Civil Rights and Human Rights
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Civil rights are rights given to humans through law, such as the right to vote. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings. Studying human rights along with civil rights expands the notion of what is a right and is more inclusive of immigrant students who may be undocumented and thus do not have the same civil rights as citizen peers.
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Institutional/Structural Power
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Institutional power refers to how organized groups, such as governments, churches, families, and corporations, use rewards and punishments to control bodies. Students who understand institutional power can see how multiple institutions work alongside each other to protect a status quo.
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Oppression and Consciousness-Building
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Becoming aware of oppression and understanding the roots of oppression are the first steps to figuring out ways to make change. In other words, people need to be aware of the problem and the extent of it in order to address it.
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Power Analysis
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Power is the ability to make people do something. Analyzing power in a situation can help students see which groups hold what kind of power and think through how power can be leveraged to bring about change.
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John Gaventa’s Power Cube
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Systems of Power Case Study:
Educational Systems
Lens/Concept |
Overview |
Resources |
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Critical Praxis/ Banking vs. Problem Posing Education
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Paolo Freire spoke against a “banking” model of education where knowledge is “deposited” into the minds of students who are considered passive recipients. Instead, critical praxis, or a problem-posing education, asks learners actively participate in their learning as they form inquiries, dialogue, and reflect on their own political realities and then take action. Looking at critical praxis allows students to reflect on their learning experiences and ask themselves if they want to take more ownership of their education.
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Refer to CPAR Framework; Read Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, or see numerous web resources to unpack this concept
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Death in the Classroom
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Gloria Ladson-Billings describes that death in the classroom occurs when both teachers and students succumb to schooling and indoctrination to the status quo instead of education. She states, “Death in the classroom refers to teachers who stop trying to reach each and every student or teachers who succumb to rules and regulations that are dehumanizing and result in de-skilling. Instead of teaching, such people become mere functionaries of a system that has no intent on preparing students-particularly urban students of color-for meaningful work and dynamic participation in a democracy. The academic death of students is made evident in the disengagement, academic failure, dropout, suspension, and expulsion that have become an all too familiar part of schooling in urban schools” (p. 77). Death in the Classroom provides the language to describe that negative, burnout feelings towards school.
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Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: aka the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 74-84.
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Equality vs. Equity
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Equality refers to treating everyone the same. Equity refers to all groups having access to needed resources and opportunities to improve their quality of life. Knowing the nuanced differences between equality and equity can help students understand resource gaps in education.
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Example: Separate but Equal School Policies
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Permission to Fail
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Permission to Fail refers to the concept of students allowing themselves and others permission to take risks and make mistakes in order to learn and become a greater versions of themselves. Conversely, permission to fail also includes when students self-sabotage or sabotage others by refusing to engage, take risks, or make mistakes, to avoid learning and instead choose negative labels rather than living up to greater versions of themselves.
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Ladson-Billings, G. (2002). I ain’t writin’nuttin’: Permissions to fail and demands to succeed in urban classrooms. The skin that we speak: Thoughts on language and culture in the classroom, 107-120.
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Schooling vs Education; Miseducation
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Schooling refers to scheduled structures that teach students to follow rather than to question the status quo. Education is concerned with making students aware of how knowledge is power; it aims to help students develop the ability to critically analyze social structures and seek transformation of the status quo. Miseducation refers to wrong or harmful schooling meant to oppress and marginalized groups, especially by teaching them that their cultural identities are undesirable. Knowing the differences among these concepts allows students to reflect on their learning and school experiences and realize the importance of asking questions and pursuing knowledge.
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Indian Boarding Schools
School Report Cards |
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School to Prison Pipeline
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The School to Prison Pipeline refers to the school zero-tolerance policies which disproportionately target youth of color and lead them to become incarcerated. In the case of undocumented youth, they also risk being deported (School to Deporation Pipeline). It is important for students to know about the School to Prison/Deportation Pipeline because it allows them to think about the intersections of institutions of school and the criminal justice system. It also brings awareness to mass incarceration systems’ disproportionate effects on black and brown bodies.
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Reading Community
Lens/Concept |
Overview |
Resources |
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Beloved Community
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. popularized the idea of beloved community in which the power of relationships transforms injustices to justice and opponents into friends. This notion allows students to see the power of relationship building in order to bring about change.
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Building Beloved Community - The Challenges and Opportunities of Mobilizing and Organizing Communities to Prevent and Respond to Domestic Violence: Facilitator Guide
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Community Cultural Wealth
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According to Tara Yosso, “Community cultural wealth is an array of knowledge, skills, abilities and contacts possessed and utilized by Communities of Color to survive and resist macro and micro-forms of oppression” (p. 77, 2005). Community cultural wealth reframes for students the power at their disposal through their communities.
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6 Forms of Community Wealth Overview
Theory of Community Cultural Wealth PowerPoint Yosso*, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race ethnicity and education, 8(1), 69-91. |
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Local Histories/ Historicizing the Present
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Local histories focuses on the history of a specific community. Students learning the local history of their community provides them the opportunity to tease out systems and analyze power on a smaller, contextualized level. They then will also have the opportunity to compare the local history to the larger historical context.
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For an example, see Workshop #4 of Standing at the Intersection Curriculum
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Reframing Expertise/ Indigenous Knowledge
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Indigenous Knowledge refers to knowledge specific to a group, culture, or society. It can also be referred to as local knowledge, people’s knowledge, or traditional wisdom. Reframing expertise expands the view on knowledge as belonging to everyone and maintains that everyone is an expert of their own experiences and is knowledgeable of their own communities. Since knowledge is power, reframing knowledge reframes power for communities.
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Relational Organizing
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Relational organizing harnesses the power of relationships to promote change. Relational organizing offers an organizing strategy which focuses on local knowledge, community, and relationships.
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