| Owner: |
Benjamin N. Lathrop
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| Owner Email: |
blathrop@purdue.edu
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| Paper Title: |
Dismantling Disinformation: Toward a Theory of Critical Engagement With Post-Truth Discourses
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| Session Title: |
Counter-Understandings: Gentrification, "Post-Truth," and the Reclamation of Space (Table 8)
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| Paper Type: |
Roundtable Presentation
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| Presentation Date: |
4/13/2023
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| Presentation Location: |
Chicago, IL
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| Descriptors: |
Cultural Issues in Education, Discourse Studies, Literacy
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| Methodology: |
Qualitative
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| Author(s): |
Benjamin N. Lathrop, Purdue University; Christy Wessel Powell
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| Unit: |
SIG-Language and Social Processes
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| Abstract: |
Conspiracy theories, “fake news,” and other forms of mis- and disinformation abound in what many have dubbed our “post-truth” era. In this context, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-2022 school year brought a renewed sense of danger, urgency, and conflict to decisions around schooling. In this paper, we discuss our investigation of these divisions through a critical literacy lens, using the tools of discourse analysis to examine the rhetoric of post-truth, conspiracy-oriented groups opposed to mask mandates, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in public schools. We argue that such groups are engaged in “cosmetic criticality,” a project superficially resembling critical literacy that poses an unprecedented challenge that literacy scholars have an obligation to confront.
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| DOI: |
https://doi.org/10.3102/2012315
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