Shaken and Stirred: On Coming to Critical Praxis

In this highly personal chapter Carolyne Ali-Khan invites readers into her journey to critical praxis. Describing her path of “unfurling into adulthood” she uses autoethnographic narrative to connect a personal history to world events, arguing throughout that theory is the stuff that life is made of. Utilizing anecdotes from her working-class race-infused childhood, heavily gendered young adulthood and teaching experiences, she analyses the ways that being situated in an ideologically infused (raced, classed, gendered) world shapes experiences and perspectives. This chapter unpacks questions of epistemology and axiology by offering an analysis of them as they arise in real word contexts. Ali-Khan notes, “Theory is not just the lingua franca of ‘experts,’ it shapes all of us.” Implicitly she encourages readers to reflect on the way that their own experiences have been shaped by dominant discourses and agendas. Employing the arts-based strategy of “fictionalized fact” she goes on to introduce the teen character “Mike” to critique neoliberal agendas as they are evidenced in schools and popular culture. Ultimately this chapter argues that critical praxis is a powerful tool for students who are looking for a theoretical foundation from which to make sense of their experiences and the experiences of others in the struggle for social justice.