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

• Published in: Discourse (Abingdon, England) Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 381 - 396
• Main Author: Ahmed, Anwar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03-05-2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: affect; Affective Behavior; Affective behaviour; Affective measures; Case studies; critical affective literacy; Critical Literacy; Critical thinking; Educational Principles; emotion; Emotional Response; Emotions; Ethics; Guidelines; Humanistic education; Literacy; Literacy education; Pedagogy; Politics; Power structure; Scholarship; Social Justice; Teaching Methods; Violence
• ISSN: 0159-6306; 1469-3739
• DOI: 10.1080/01596306.2015.1042429

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.