Reclaiming Unfinished Fictions in Literacy Research and Practice

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

We argue that literacy research and practice might be reimagined as unfinished fictions, created by and with youth who ‘leap out of the frame’ of anticipated genres, popular cultural repertoires, and embodied actions as they address social inequalities. We present illustrative episodes from four ethnographic studies of middle-high school youth as they enacted, read, told and wrote stories about Black artistry, silences (and sounds) of sexual identities, transphobia, immigrant identities, death, family hope, and community renewal. These studies engage with distinct theoretical frames (poststructural, critical sociocultural, global discourse, Black feminist, queer disidentification) for analyzing and critiquing the meaning and implications of unfinished fictions in literacy research and practice.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Writing and Literacies

Chair

• Patricia E. Enciso, The Ohio State University

Papers

• Polyphony in a Classroom Literacy Event: Encountering Diverse In(ter)dependent Voices and Consciousnesses - Mollie V. Blackburn, The Ohio State University

• Exploring Student Aesthetic Disidentifications: Contesting, Reimagining, and Re-Forming Transphobia Through School Literacy Practices - Ryan Schey, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Genre-Bending Superheroes (Re)Bounding Across Time and Space - Patricia E. Enciso, The Ohio State University

• Authoring Mute: Embodied Resistance and Choreographies of Change - Beth Krone, The Ohio State University - Columbus

Discussant

• Cynthia J. Lewis, University of Minnesota