Race and Desire: Toward Critical Literacies for ESL

Abstract

This article examines the complexities of race and teaching identity and their coupling with desire. The author contributes to a theory of critical literacies for ESL by questioning the construction of whiteness as it relates to ESL. She draws on a cross-disciplinary bibliography of critical pedagogy, cultural, and feminist studies. She suggests that an interesting paradox in critical literacy is the simultaneous breaking down of binary identities while continuing to offer up a socially transformative curriculum.