Stepping Out of the Academic Brew: Using Critical Research to Break Down Hierarchies of Knowledge Production

Source: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Volume 24, Issue 3, 2011, pages 267-283.

This paper explores how critical theory and critical research can be used to critique hierarchies of knowledge in academia and society.
The article explores this relationship in order to create new opportunities for learning and researching dialogically, a process that the author calls, ‘stepping out of the academic brew’.

The article uses the concept of REDO (reveal, examine, dismantle, open) and an example of critical research done with and by urban high school students.

The paper offers a framework for how critical researchers might begin flattening hierarchical knowledge structures in education, in themselves, and in life.