Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6223

Date

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Concentration

Composition Studies

Committee Chair

William Duffy

Committee Member

Katherine Fredlund

Committee Member

Verner Mitchell

Abstract

James Baldwin is a well-known author and activist in American literature. He had long been a champion of civil rights, using his platform to speak about the iniquities and issues affecting black people in America. Though his work is read often in literary circles, his writing could serve to supplement the field of critical pedagogy with Rhetoric and Composition. Paulo Freire, the conceiver of critical pedagogy through his foundational text Pedagogy of the Oppressed, identified the pitfalls of educational systems that see teachers as knowledge-givers and students as knowledge receptacles based on his experiences teaching illiterate adults in Brazil under an oppressive government. Critical pedagogy can be better adapted to the societal and educational issues placating America by reading Baldwin as a critical pedagogue. Doing so would supplement how writing educators perceive African American Vernacular English, encourage students to think critically about society, and remind all educators that this critical work can be done within writing classrooms.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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