Rewriting Literacy

This book is the first of its kind to link such fields as linguistics, anthropology, sociolinguistics, and education to illustrate how the problem of literacy is embedded in a social and cultural context.

Links fields such as linguistics, anthropology, sociolinguistics and education to illustrate how the problem of literacy is embedded in a social and cultural context. Most of the essays are based on primary research and highlight important concerns about the political nature of literacy.

Rewriting Literacy makes a profound contribution to the developing field of literacy studies as it is the first book which seeks to link such disciplines as linguistics, sociolinguistics, anthropology, education, English as a second language, and reading and writing theory.

The chapters in this edited collection, by some of the foremost scholars of the day, all focus on the nature of literacy. Each article brings to light important concerns regarding literacy, concerns which are often ignored by the more traditionally oriented educationalist. The authors illustrate how literacy is embedded in a social and cultural context bringing into question the very nature of what it means to be literate. Each piece highlights, either implicitly or explicitly, the highly political nature of literacy and in doing so approaches the study of literacy from a critical and pedagogical perspective. The body of work presented in this volume is relevant not only to individuals whose main focus is on the area of literacy studies, but to all those concerned about minority disenfranchisement, institutional inequity, and the political, cultural, and social dimensions of education.