Activist Literacies: Theorizing Literacy in and Across Communities of Practice

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium presents the work of literacy scholars/practitioners engaged in generating understandings of literacy within and across institutional and social boundaries, such as university and school/community collaborations. In the spirit of this year’s annual meeting theme—Non Satis Scire: To Know is Not Enough—we explore the nexus of literacy knowledge, pedagogy, and activism. These papers present an argument for how practitioners are uniquely situated to investigate literacy theories—from New London (1996) to New Literacy Studies (Street, 1995)—as well as develop new understandings through activist orientations. This work informs scholarly conversations in literacy studies, and actualizes these theories toward ethical pedagogies that orient practice toward individual and communal change.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Writing and Literacies

Chair

• Darryl Hall, Indiana University - Bloomington

Papers

• New Literacy Studies, New London, and Their Discontents: Theorizing Literacy From and in Practice - Rob Simon, University of Toronto; Gerald Campano, University of Pennsylvania

• Immigrant Youth Activism and Literacies of Agency - Mary Yee, University of Pennsylvania

• Inquiring Through Community: Reframing Literacy Practices Through Collaborative Inquiry - Lenny Sánchez, University of Missouri

• Mode-Switching: Immigrant Students Blend Semiotic Resources to Author Their Experiences - Maria Paula Ghiso, Teachers College, Columbia University; David Eric Low, The University of Pennsylvania