Searching for Literacy: The Social and Intellectual Origins of Literacy Studies

This book provides a critical account of the development of questions, approaches, methods, and understandings of literacy within and across disciplines and interdisciplines. It critiques the New Literacy Studies and argues that literacy and literacy studies are historical developments that must be understood in those terms to comprehend their profound impact on our traditions of thinking about and understanding literacy. It examines literacy over time and across linguistics, anthropology, psychology, reading and writing across modes of communication and comprehension, "new" literacies across digital, visual, performance, numerical, and scientific domains, and history. It emphasizes the value of new directions of negotiation and translation and will interest scholars and students in the many fields that constitute literacy studies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 314 pages
Publication date: 23 August 2023
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This comprehensive book delves into the intricate evolution of questions, approaches, methods, and understandings of literacy within and across diverse disciplines, as well as their interdisciplinary intersections. It offers a critical appraisal of literacy studies, encompassing the New Literacy Studies, and provides a thoughtful revision of our understanding of literacy. This book represents the culmination of a series initiated by the author in the 1970s, and it challenges and reevaluates the New Literacy Studies, challenging our conventional notions of literacy and its study.

Through a revisionist lens, Graff argues that literacy studies, both in its academic, institutional, and policy realms, as well as in popular discourse, has strayed from its critical foundations, impeding efforts to promote literacy. He explores the multifaceted nature of literacy across various fields, including linguistics, anthropology, psychology, reading and writing across different modes of communication and comprehension, "new" literacies in digital, visual, performance, numerical, and scientific domains, and historical perspectives.

Graff emphasizes the significance of exploring new avenues for negotiation and translation in our understanding of literacy. This book appeals to scholars and students engaged in literacy studies across the humanities, social sciences, education, and beyond, offering a rich and insightful exploration of the field.

Weight: 435g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030969837
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022