Critical self-awareness begins by inventorying the historical traces that have formed the self.

Evidence

In the Prison Notebooks Gramsci says: “The starting-point of critical elaboration is the consciousness of what one really is, and is ‘knowing thyself’ as a product of the historical process to date, which has deposited in you an infinity of traces, without leaving an inventory.” The only available English translation inexplicably leaves Gramsci’s comment at that, whereas in fact Gramsci’s Italian text concludes by adding, “therefore it is imperative at the outset to compile such an inventory.” — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 96

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Gramsci’s ‘inventory of traces’ as the starting-point of critical elaboration — a foundational concept for the field’s method of self-examination.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s Scaffolding Theory goal: this is the genealogical method that later Islamophobia analysis applies to its own practitioners. — connects to: The reflecting self remains engaged, historical, and worldly rather than detached; Critical literacy means analyzing the historical causes of one’s own circumstances. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 202
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 96