© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
There's more to life than politics
Colin Sowden lectures in Modern History and English at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, where he was previously Director of the International Foundation Course. His interests include intercultural communication and nineteenth-century politics and literature
Email: casowden{at}uwic.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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In order to broaden the range and increase the significance of their work, some English language teachers have embraced critical pedagogy, which seeks to effect political and social change through education. It is not clear, though, certainly in the previous paper, how such an aim can be achieved, or whether the outcome would be the one anticipated. There are also contradictions inherent in this approach: it is often most critical of the anglophone inheritance, which has done much to foster the right to criticize; it is based on post-modern notions of knowledge, yet makes universal claims; it speaks a language of care, but adopts a totalitarian view of society in which all relationships are treated as political, thus reducing life to politics.