Thinking critically together: The intellectual and discursive dynamics of controversial conversations

My doctoral research investigates how young people think critically about interpersonal, societal and historical conflict, and how they argue with others about the controversies that arise. I conduct a case study of the Twilight L.A. Forum, hosted by Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) in 2002, which involved 120 high-school students of diverse socio-cultural backgrounds (in the US) in a discussion of the "Riots" or "Uprisings" that took place in Los Angeles in April of 1992;This research elaborates on the idea that the practice of deliberation requires participants to 'think critically together' about contentious issues. I examine the intellectual and social dynamics that unfold in the process of a controversial conversation, and how the interplay between them transforms deliberation into a productive or unproductive experience. Methodologically, I integrate a cognitive-developmental approach to the analysis of critical thinking with a discursive-rhetorical approach to the analysis of argumentation. With the first approach I analyze the kind of interactions that take place among students who argue with different levels of critical complexity, and whether they provide the challenge and support needed to foster more complex understanding. With the second approach I analyze the ways in which students' thinking and arguing is shaped by culture and social context.;The findings of this study show that, overall, the Twilight Forum provided students with an important experience of voice and exposure. However the analysis also revealed that the group struggled to bridge the divisions among participants who held opposing views. The analysis of the data shows few significant transformations in the arguments espoused by the different sides in controversy that could have resulted from the cross-fertilization between their different starting viewpoints. I argue that this limited productivity is partly explained by particular patterns of interplay between the intellectual and discursive dynamics.;The integration of two analytic approaches suggests that the discursive processes prescribed and proscribed the ways in which students used the critical capacities available to them. In rare instances was the interplay between dynamics reversed such that the use of critical thinking tools provided students with reflective access to the narratives invoked and to their management of them. I argue that the intellectual and social dynamics may nurture or rival each other in ways that will boost or hinder the possibilities of deliberation in the classroom yielding productive outcomes.