Reading Orientations: Reading Power Otherwise in Critical Literacy Research

Abstract In the 21st century, the term “critical” has attached itself to numerous aspects of literacy research. However, what critical means remains commonly anchored to Freire and a primary critical reading practice—suspicious critique. Expanding critical literacy research (CLR), this article advances reading orientations as a conceptual tool for drawing attention to the phenomenological aspects of our critical reading practices and for exploring alternative “methods” and “moods” for reading power in literacy studies. Through three “re‐turns” to previous publications within the field of critical literacy, I position myself as an exploratory case. The first re‐turn surveys four leading models of critical literacy, which I encountered in my graduate training, and highlights how critique and suspicion function in these models. The second re‐turn zooms into my own work, re‐reading three previous publications to illustrate how suspicious critique has influenced my research. Experimental, my third re‐turn presents previously unpublished data to engage an alternative reading method—reparative description—and illustrates how we might read power otherwise in CLR. Together, these re‐turns emphasize the possibilities of accounting for reading orientations in CLR and for exploring additional methods and moods of reading within the field.