Consciousness-Raising or Eyebrow-Raising? Reading Urban Fiction with High School Students in Freirean Cultural Circles

INTRODUCTION Based largely on the writings of educational philosopher and activist Paulo Freire (see, e.g. 1970, 1977, 1989, 1993), educational researchers have demonstrated the contemporary relevance of dialogic and critical pedagogy to teachers and students of all ages, especially in urban schools (Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Darder, Baltodano, & Torres, 2003; DuncanAndrade & Morrell, 2008; Gay, 2000; Giroux, 1997; Gordon, 1993; hooks, 1994; Kincheloe, 2008; Kumashiro, 2000; LadsonBillings, 1995). At this point, contemporary U.S. manifestations of Freire’s work tend to take place inside of classrooms, and focus on practices of questioning and tapping knowledge from students and their communities, as well as on forming a bridge to school sanctioned curricula (Ayers, 2001; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Some work focuses on practices of democratic dialogue (Darder, 2002) and on forging close relationships between teachers and students (hooks, 2003). Outside of the classroom, Youth Participatory Action Research (Y-PAR) and activism (Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Ginwright, 2010) stem from Freirean philosophies. Yet, with few exceptions (Souto-Manning, 2010; Williams, 2009), researchers pay less attention to cultural circles, a method of Freirean pedagogy. Perhaps this is because Freire, wary of his methods being imported or exported, resisted providing a rote description of his cultural circles. He preferred that his pedagogy be re-invented in context (Boshier, 1999; Darder, 2002; Souto-Manning, 2010).