5/30/2022 Critical Literacy

Essay

Asisipho Mvana
216063698
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Asisipho Mvana
216063698
LESV211/LES201 CDA Essay 2022
31 May 2022

Introduction

Jank’s critical literacy model focuses on how power through language and literacy can
be taken seriously not just by specific curriculum content. the use of language and
literacy plays an important role in positioning us. This model helps the student have a
critical stance, this stance is predicated on students gaining access to and facility with
language and literacy tools (Janks,2010 in Rajah, 2022). In this essay, I will attempt
this critical stance by looking at the United Nations commissioners for refugees’
campaign (UNHCR) in figures 1 and figure 2. I will firstly look at figure 1 (Spot the
refugee) advertisement on how power and diversity are constructed. Secondly, look
at figure 2 (Einstein was a refugee) advertisement, how it could be seen as a form of
the redesign in the Janks model. And lastly, compare the two advertisements’ use of
colour and visual images.

Jank’s critical literacy model has four critical components Power, Access, Diversity
and Redesign. In my attempt to critical analyse Figure 1 “Spot the refugee” I will focus
on power and diversity. Power can be defined in different ways according to
Elsherkawy (2011) Power can be defined as the ability to control people’s behaviour
in a certain way and the ability to accomplish their own goals while denying others
access to the same. Janks looks at power in a way that language can be used to
maintain or challenge the existing forms of power. In Figure 1 the UNHCR use their
power as an agent of social change by challenging us (the reader) to investigate our
stereotypical views of refugees not only through text by through the visuals of the Lego
dolls. The title of the advert Spot the refugee gives us an idea that it is easy to spot a
refugee by just looking at them however it challenges us into rethinking our ideologies
about refugees.

Refugees are people that have been forced to leave their home country because of
war or disaster they end up being displaced and seeking refuge in nearby countries.
when refugees come to a host country the people treat them as criminals or dirty
people who came to exploit and become xenophobic towards them. the use of the
word “unsavoury character” tells us that is how we see refugees because they don’t
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Asisipho Mvana
216063698
LESV211/LES201 CDA Essay 2022
31 May 2022

have anything we expect them to look a certain way. The narrative that is painted
about refugees is a hegemonic ideology that gives power to and is untrue and
negative.

Diversity in this model realises that people are different and come from different
environments and backgrounds. These differences can be seen as something positive
which expands one’s horizon or it could be negative and can be a threat that divides
people and produce the othering concept (Janks et al, 2014.) Othering gives a sense
of inferiority complex and the other gets excluded from society like the refugee who
gets sent to refugee camps this divide creates hierarchies where the other is less and
the people with dominant cultures and languages are higher up in the ladder, they end
up discriminating. The use of the pronouns in the sentence that says “You see,
refugees are just like you and me, Except for one thing. Everything they once had
has been left behind “. Tell us that refugees are not like us and its others them even
though the campaign intends to make us see that they are not different from us. When
looking at the Lego dolls, the doll’s pigmentation is the same and it gives us the idea
of sameness you cannot tell what a refuge looks like based on appearance because
it could be anyone. The writer positions us the reader and as a person of influence
that we can make a difference by choosing to accept refugees in our countries with
care and compassion.

Figure 2 uses a well-known figure Albert Einstein who became a world-renowned

Theoretical Physicist. He was born in Germany but emigrated to the United States
after Hitler came to power (Fleming, 2022). The intention of the writer (UNCHR) is to
attract the reader’s attention by using a well-known figure to emphasise that anyone
could be a refugee. The text “a bundle of belonging isn’t the only thing a refugee brings
to his new country” is a form of redesign. According to Janks et al (2014) Redesign is
an act of transformation. The writer here transforms a narrative that has been painted
about refugees and changes it to something positive. The writer uses their power to
deconstruct a certain view of refuges and reconstruct it. Einstein did not just seek a
place to live but he also became someone and gave back to the places that he lived
in with his expert knowledge. The use of the picture of Einstein makes the reader want
to engage and find out more about UNCHR, it attracts and captures the reader. The
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Asisipho Mvana
216063698
LESV211/LES201 CDA Essay 2022
31 May 2022

stereotypical view of refugees is that they came to the host country and steal jobs from
the people of that country or start businesses and take the market and produce cheap
labour.

Figure 1 and figure 2 are both campaigns that bring light to the issues that refugee
face. The use of Lego dolls is used as a metaphor that people can be easily
manipulated just like toys, and the idea of unification is being portrayed using pronouns
such as we and us. Figure 2 uses a well-known figure to attract the reader to rethink
their ideologies about refugees. Figure 1 uses colourful clothes to show the diversity
and the difference between people. Figure 2 has less colour to try and direct us to
Einstein since he is a historical figure the black and white give us that retro vibe. His
gaze is looking directly at us to show that the campaign wants the viewer’s attention.
the Sentence in figure 1“We know we can’t give them back the things that others have
taken away”, Is a form of Euphemism, as the writer conceals negative information on
how these things have been taken away? Refugees get displaced and their homes get
destroyed in the war and they lose everything like that.

The visual images try to include us as the reader for example in Figure 1, the writer
wants us to be involved with the campaign by questioning ourselves. The writer makes
us look for the character they describe based on the way the Lego doll is dressed only
to disappoint us at the end by telling us of our prejudice against refugees, that we
expected them to look a certain way. The writer shows us that refugees are not
different from us and that the guy we thought was a refugee could be our neighbour.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jank’s model of critical literacy and critical analysis, helps us think
deeper about our prejudices and discriminations. It helps us analyse and position
ourselves in any form of writing. Both figure 1 and figure 2 are campaigns that question
the narrative of refugees and that challenge the participant’s position on the topic.
Discourse analysis helps us question the choice that the writers have made to portray
their points. It is important for us to ask critical questions when engaging with any
discourse, like who interests are being served and who benefits etc.
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Asisipho Mvana
216063698
LESV211/LES201 CDA Essay 2022
31 May 2022

Reference list
Fleming CB, 2022. Famous Quotes. [Online]
Available teacherss://www.famousquotes.com/author/biography/albert-einstein-biography
[Accessed 29 May 2022].
Elsherkawy A, 2011. Grin. [Online]
Available at:
https://www.grin.com/document/350636#:~:text=In%20CDA%2C%20language%20both%20
reflects,ideas%2C%20cultural%20leadership%20and%20authority.
[Accessed 28 May 2022].
Janks H, Dixion K,Ferreira A, Granville S and Newfield D , 2014. Text and Activities for
Students and tecahers. In: Janks, ed. Doing Critical Literacy. New York: Routledge, pp. 1-10.
Rajah A, 2022. Critical Analysis of Text. Lecture four. Nelson Mandela University.
Rajah A,2022. Critical Visual Literacy. Lecture Seven. Nelson Mandela University.