ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author conceptualizes, in Conflicts in Curriculum Theory, a map for charting scholars theoretical contributions—what author referred to as the critical curriculum river. One of the most powerful leitmotivs of the critical curriculum river is the struggle for relevant and just curriculum, which can also foster equality, democracy, freedom, and social justice. Equipped with a new semantic artillery, "neo-Gramscian" scholars, such as Henry Giroux, pushed the critical curriculum field in a different direction. D. Liston is quite clear about the puzzling and unacceptable silences within the critical progressive curriculum river. The linguist oppression in which curriculum plays a key role needs to be contextualized within the eugenic curriculum policies unleashed since the end of nineteenth century. The struggle for curriculum relevance that is a struggle for 'social and cognitive justice' is not a battle for "college career readiness" as currently espoused by Common Core and reform movements. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
