Becoming Symbol-Wise: Kenneth Burke’s Pedagogy of Critical Reflection

In this essay, I analyze Kenneth Burke’s Cold War pedagogy and explore the ways it connects to (and complicates) Paulo Freire’s conception of praxis. I argue that Burke’s theory and practice adds a rhetorical nuance to critical reflection and then envision how his 1955 educational concerns gain significance for teachers and scholars today who, like Burke, live in a time “when war is always threatening.”