Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a critical pedagogy literature that has been in circulation since the late 1960s if not earlier, and as students often ask, why hasn't it changed the educational landscape. Despite the work of critical pedagogues, the systemic inequity and institutionalization of education is a behemoth. The reality is that critical pedagogues have fought upstream, taught against the grain, and still find themselves dissatisfied or unfulfilled and in unchanging contexts. Critical pedagogy has had a substantial influence on many academic fields, particularly education, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, political science and literature. The chapter authors chart critical pedagogy as a terrain, in order to clearly see where and how it has germinated, illustrate teaching to change and offer a brief media analysis study as an example of curricular potential.