Topics In Anthropology (390-0-6)

Topic

Anthropology of Literacy

Instructors

Doris Stanley Warriner

Meeting Info

University Hall 102: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Literacy is a topic that of significant interest and debate among researchers, policy-makers, teachers, communities, and the general public. This course introduces an anthropological perspective to common questions, debates and assumptions about how literacy is defined and operationalized in particular contexts - and the implications for processes of world-building, social identification, schooling, and policy making. Anthropologists of literacy ask questions such as "how is literacy defined?" and "who decides?" and "what are the consequences?" In this course, we will consider the paradigm shifts that occurred when anthropologists of literacy questioned the oral/literate dichotomy; interrogate widespread assumptions about the meaning and value of various types of literacy practices; and become familiar with ethnographic approaches to investigating how people interact with and make meaning out of particular literacy events and practices. This course will be of interest to students in anthropology, education, social policy, and questions of equity and access.

Learning Objectives

1. to question widespread assumptions about how literacy is defined and viewed in contexts of learning and schooling;
2. to understand the potential/value of using an anthropological approach to researching literacy as a social practice;
3. to pursue an independent project on a specific topic and informed by the anthropology of literacy.

Class Materials (Required)

Campano, G. (2019). Immigrant students and literacy: Reading, writing, and remembering. Teachers College Press. ISBN 978-0-8077-4732-2
Kinloch, V. (2015). Harlem on our minds: Place, race, and the literacies of urban youth. Teachers College Press. ISBN 978-0-8077-5023-0