Janks, Hilary2016-06-212016-06-212002Janks, H. (2002). Critical literacy: Beyond reason. Australian Educational Researcher, 29(1), 7-27.0311-6999 (Print)2210-5328 (Online)http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20520In this paper, I argue that critical literacy is essentially a rationalist activity that does not sufficiently address the non-rational investments that readers bring with them to texts and tasks. I begin by looking at playful advertising texts that work with humans and the transgressive in order to consider the role of pleasure rather than reason. Then I examine the force of powerful identifications in relation to reason to show that educational inventions cannot ignore them. Finally, I tentatively suggest that we may need to find ways to combine socio-cultural and psycho-analytic theory in order to imagine new directions for pedagogy in the critical literacy classroom.enCritical literacyPlayful advertising textsSocio-cultural theoryPsycho-analytic theoryArticle