ABSTRACT
‘Emancipatory discourse’ is an integral part of emancipatory practice. It means using language, along with other aspects of social practice, in a way which works towards greater freedom and respect for all people, including ourselves. The term ‘emancipatory discourse’ implies that there are people or groups of people who need emancipation from someone or something. In this chapter we will consider who needs to be emancipated from what and how a critical language awareness (CLA) can contribute to the process of emancipation. It is a central tenet of this chapter that language ‘awareness’ or ‘raised consciousness’ is not liberatory enough. Only if CLA empowers people to successfully contest the practices which disempower them would we claim that it is emancipatory. Awareness needs to be turned into action.
