Writing Homework Help

The purpose of this assignment is to briefly engage students in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). CDA examines language and discourses in social institutions, while educational applications of CDA focus on how social relations, identity, knowledge and power are constructed through written and spoken texts in communities, schools and classrooms. The close examination of written and spoken language can provide useful insights into the positionality of actors or the rhetoric that informs an argument. Garza and Crawford (2005) state:

“The purpose of Critical Discourse Analysis is to analyze opaque as well as transparent structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control…the value that is attached to various cultural practices, ways of knowing, speaking, and acting will always be defined by those who control discourse and those who delineate the field of normality.” (p. 602)

As you watch the documentary Precious Knowledge (2011), observe the various ways discourse can be used for the assertion of power and knowledge as well as for purposes of resistance and critique. Throughout the film, analyze the cultural voices and texts within local educational sites, while attempting to connect these with an understanding of positionalities, power, and ideology in broader social formations.

Film link: https://calstatela.kanopy.com/video/precious-knowledge (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) Note: Sign-in to your Cal State LA account to access film.

After watching the film, answer the following questions in a minimum of 5 complete sentences, per question. Be sure to support your answers by providing specific examples from the film.

1. Based on the explicit discourse by students and teachers in the ethnic studies program, how do the students and teachers define and understand education?
2. Based on the explicit discourse by Arizona policymakers, how does the state define and understand education?
3. Identify and quote 3 statements made by students that depict the development of deficit perspectives (or internalized oppression) within themselves. Describe how their participation in the ethnic studies program shifted their views.
4. Explain what Monzo (2016) means when she argues that within group conflict supports the interests of the capitalist class by severing opportunities for class and race consciousness? How do the discourses in the film exemplify this view?