Critical Literacy: Changing the World Through the Word

This study analyzes the role that children’s literature plays in acquiring critical tools and deconstructing the internalized sense of worthlessness and oppression that Latinos living in poverty might experience. The goal is to provide literacy spaces and critical tools for both, teachers and students from marginalized and oppressed backgrounds, as Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo suggest, to become aware of one’s reality and act upon our world. This intends to engage students in dialogue and reflection, in order to critically analyze and understand issues of social, economic and political injustice and inequities; and deconstruct their internalized sense of worthlessness and oppression. The outcome of the study is to provide bilingual educators with literature resources, such as a collection of literature in Spanish and reflection suggestions, aimed to promote action, transformation and social justice within a community of learners. At a young age, I succumbed to the messages posed at my schools, by the mass media, and in the community at large, which led me to believe that I had less value than my White counterparts. I was convinced that for me to succeed, I had to give up my identity. I was made to feel like a second-class citizen because of my socioeconomic status and my Spanish language and because I lived in a run-down community (p. 118). −Margarita Berta-Ávila, 2003 Introduction and Review of Literature Margarita Berta-Ávila’s experience as a Latina growing up in the United States is similar to that of many young Latinos in this country. Sixty one percent of Latino children that live in poverty (reported by the National Center for Children in Poverty in 2007) might experience the same internalized sense of oppression such as Margarita Berta-Ávila, as a result of the social, historical and political marginalization that Latinos have encountered in the United States. In regards to issues of race, class, culture and language, some Latinos have been conditioned to believe that they lack the power and voice to claim a just and equitable standard of living. This sense of worthlessness and hopelessness can be defined as internalized oppression, which affects individuals who have been socially and politically alienated, excluded and discriminated. As Mahan (2002, p. 49) states: If SG [subordinated groups] members begin to believe that they have no control over their lives and lack the capacity for autonomy, they may begin to show the passive behavior known as learned helplessness. If they experience shame due to being viewed as second-class citizens or less than real Americans, SG members may, in a paradoxical manner, simultaneously believe and not believe that they are inferior. PMA [persons of Mexican ancestry] may even become ashamed of being identified with the Mexican ethnic group (p. 296). According to existing research, some students from Latino communities have been led to believe that they are helpless, inferior and powerless upon their life and reality (Berta-Ávila, 2003; Mahan, 2002). Stereotypes portrayed in the media and society at large have contributed to negative self-perceptions and lack of confidence in some Latino children: “Those at the receiving end of prejudice can experience physical and psychological harm, and over time, they internalize and act on negative perceptions about themselves and other members of their own group”