Critical literacy and institutional language

Based on move than three years of activist ethnographic fieldwork in an ups tate New York inner city, this article explores institutional language skil ls among area residents who faced eviction from their homes. Through vignet tes and literacy artifacts this report reveals how two adult women learned, transferred, and evaluated their own language practices in light of their interactions with institutional gatekeepers. Analysis not only reveals the cycle of development of institutional language strategies among community m embers, but also shows residents' critical awareness and political acumen w hen faced with the asymmetrical relations between themselves and the instit utions designed to assist them. Grounded in the micro politics of day-to-da y linguistic struggles this research shows how individuals' language use bo th complied with and resisted the structuring ideology of institutional age nts. In light of these findings, I raise questions about the methods of key critical pedagogues and the appropriateness of their assumption of false c onsciousness among disenfranchised people.