After exploring Liz's contradiction or incoherence between saying and doing, we began to ask pragmatic questions: What follows an examination and acknowledgment of privilege? How do we silence and control others without even being aware of it? How do our subject positions affect the way we process information? How do we unravel and address the tensions that arise from the students' and educators' different subject positions? We did not have any answers to our questions, but we had begun the process of trying to integrate a new way of thinking and being into the fabric of our pedagogy.

Finally, one of the strands within this section has been Liz's contradiction between her words and actions. Initially, Liz did not recognize this contradiction. It was only after she recognized the contradiction that she engaged in praxis. After the production of the photostory, Liz's understanding of identity politics deepened and she stated that she was clearer about student participation and identity politics. Then, she uttered the following statement: "Your actions, your words, your actions." This statement suggests that rather than living a contradiction, Liz had been engaged in a cyclical process of learning that unified theory and practice. A deeper understanding of social identity and relations requires praxis, a dialectical process between thought and action. It was only through praxis that Liz became aware of how she silenced students through her position of authority and how she needed to create a safe space for students to talk.

Working Across Differences

Participatory literacy practices created possibilities for students to acknowledge their social identity in relation to other students in their group; it was a chance to move beyond descriptors such as "we're all in the same boat" and to look at how gender, class, race, culture and intellectual ability constitute social identity and our relations with others. It should be mentioned that the students did not facilitate the acknowledgment of social identity; rather, it was a role adopted by literacy workers.