Abstract:
This paper is an expanded version of a seminar presented at the Auckland College of Education in May 1999. My intention is to explore the complex concept 'reflection' from its 'darker' side. Recognising an internal dialectic in the concept in no way negates its absolute importance in the development of a critical self-consciousness. My interest here is not with reflection as critical contemplation, which is the process of review and evaluation aimed at uniting theory and practice in the service of personal liberation and social emancipation, rather, I wish to explore the other side of the dialectic. The exploratory question is; 'given the power of reflection as the internalised mirror of self-consciousness, can this humanising activity become the mechanism for the internalising and surveillance of previously externalised power relations of oppressive authority?'