Teaching literacy practices in a way that domesticates by emphasising form and structure over the political and social nature of writing has been critically analysed in recent years. The question of 'who benefits' from such practices has been implicitly raised in an increasing number of spheres by theorists and researchers whose beliefs stem from a critical literacy perspective. This paper seeks to explore the politics of writing, the representation of self in writing and the use of critical writing practices as an alternative to generic approaches to teaching the academic writing process. Kamler's (2001) strategies for developing a critical writing pedagogy and Halasek's (1999) complementary arguments of viewing writing in a cultural context and repositioning students as co-creators of knowledge will be discussed in the context of an adult university preundergraduate bridging program literacy course whose aim is to ensure that students are the primary benefactors of their writing. Thus the students (the 'researched') can be empowered to share as coresearchers in the research project.