ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book. The book demonstrates the theorization of the dialectic of power which includes horizontal, distributed, and collective enactments, an expanded reach of discourses, and a variety of ways in which analytic frameworks can be used to promote positive social transformation and powerful literacies. There are three insights that have been threaded across in the book. First, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has often been used to describe, interpret, and explain inequities but is not used as frequently as a tool of intervention. Second, the "founders" of CDA were mainly from the North Atlantic, and so the tradition is subject to the very same trappings of power and privilege that it sets out to critique. Third, a great deal of scholarly attention focuses on inequities, and there was great value to shifting our collective gaze to equity, justice, liberation, and freedom.