Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of critical literacy in Brazil’s recent educational context, which is part and parcel of a larger political crisis that includes the emergence of an ultraliberal agenda, the de-politicization of education and the resulting escalation of multiple forms of violence at all levels of social life. By drawing on the historiography of the term ‘literacy’ and other expressions that have marked epistemological changes in the field over time (new literacies, multiliteracies, etc.), we argue that it is only through the resumption of a revolutionary agenda in literacy studies that critical literacy can be fostered in the advanced stage of capitalist mode of production.
Keywords:
critical literacy; neoliberal and education; language and violence