Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community / Edition 1

by David Barton, Mary Hamilton

Overview

Local Literacies is a unique detailed study of the role of reading and writing in people’s everyday lives. By concentrating on a selection of people in a particular community in Lancaster, England, the authors analyse how they use literacy in their day-to-day lives. It follows four people in detail examining how they use local media, their participation in public life, the role of literacy in family activities and in leisure pursuits. Links are made between everyday learning and education. The study is based on an ethnographic approach to studying everyday activities and is framed in the theory of literacy as a social practice.

This Routledge Linguistics Classic includes a new foreword by Deborah Brandt and a new framing chapter, in which David Barton and Mary Hamilton look at the connections between local and global activities, interfaces with institutional literacies, and the growing significance of digital literacies in everyday life.

A seminal text, Local Literacies provides an explicit usable methodology for both teachers and researchers, and clear theorising around a set of six propositions. Clearly written and engaging, this is a deeply absorbing study and is essential reading for all those involved in literacy and literacy education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415691727
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/24/2012
Series:	Routledge Linguistics Classics
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1250L (what's this?)

About the Author

David Barton is Professor of Language and Literacy and Director of the Literacy Research Centre at Lancaster University, UK. He is series editor of the Literacies series (Routledge) and author and co-editor of numerous titles including Literacy, Lives and Learning (2007, Routledge).

Mary Hamilton is Professor of Adult Learning and Literacy and Associate Director of the Literacy Research Centre at Lancaster University, UK. She is the author of Literacy and the Politics of Representation (forthcoming, Routledge).

Table of Contents

Foreword by David Bloome. Preface. Part I 1. Understanding Literacy as Social Practice 2. Locating Literacies in Time and Space: (1) A history of literacy in Lancaster 3. Locating Literacies in Time and Space: (2) Lancaster Today 4. Ethnography in Practice Part II 5. How They Have Fared in Education: Harry’s Literacy Practices 6. Getting Things Done in the Community: Shirley’s Literacy Practices 7. Living a Local Life: June’s Literacy Practices 8. Leisure and Pleasure: Cliff’s Literacy Practices Part III 9. Everyday Literacies: (1) The Range of Practices 10. Everyday Literacies: (2)the Patterning of Practices 11. Home, Learning and Education 12. The Web of Literacies in Local Organisations 13. Becoming Expert: Literacy and Sense-making 14. Vernacular Literacies 15. Afterword

Editorial Reviews

'Local Literacies presents complex ideas, mixing debates from linguistics, social history and cultural studies; yet it is written with enviable clarity ... Anyone interested in literacy education needs to read this book.' - Jane Mace, South Bank University, UK

'A rare achievement. A holistic study of local literacies in one community which is both accessible and engagingly written. A book I would happily recommend to academics, practitioners, parents, teachers, community workers and the general public. Barton and Hamilton raise many questions, move debates about literacy forward, and reveal a broad understanding of the sheer complexity of literacies in ordinary people's lives. A stimulating and respectful book.' - Sarah Padmore, UK

'One of the best books on literacy I have read in my career. I can see myself going back to this book again and again, learning more each time I read it ... You can't leave the book without new insights about the nature of literacy in people's lives.' - David Bloome, Vanderbilt University, USA

A rich ambitious book that explores insightfully how we govern ways the written and read word works for us. Barton and Hamilton disclose the heart of our vernacular literacies - close up framings of our time, space, relationship and transformational points in our lives.' - Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University, USA

From the Publisher