ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the personal narrative and professional practice of a South African leader who uses critical literacy to enable social justice consciousness within a nonprofit organization. It outlines how his approach shifts organizational culture by engaging team members in a critical conscious pedagogy grounded in his lived experiences as a Black person living through, and resisting, apartheid. Existing critical literacy for social justice literature focuses on curriculum and instruction (Freire & Macedo, 1987), health literacy (Laster, 2008), and in the South African context, community development (Hope & Timmel, 1984). However, there are few accounts of how South African leaders, informed by their lived experiences, implement a critical literacy leadership pedagogy to realize new forms of consciousness within their organizational context. The chapter concludes with a framework that is useful for leaders, practitioners, and educators in various fields who seek to advance justice in their daily practice.
