Literacy and Power (Language, Culture, and Teaching Series)

In This Book Hilary Janks Addresses The Following Questions And Many More: Is Literacy A Skill Or A Social Practice? ; In What Ways Is Literacy Embodied? ; Do Texts Have Designs On Us And What Can We Do About It? ; How Does Language Construct Reality? ; What Is 'linguistic Capital' And Who Has It? ; Who Gets Access To New Literacies And Who Is Excluded? ; How Is Literacy Implicated In Relations Of Power And Questions Of Identity In Our Daily Lives? Janks Shows How Competing Orientations To Critical Literacy Education - Domination (power), Access, Diversity, Design - Foreground One Over The Other. Her Central Argument Is That These Different Orientations Are Crucially Interdependent And Need To Work Together To Create Possibilities For Redesign And Social Action That Serve A Social Justice Agenda. Recognizing Ongoing Change In Socio-historical Conditions, In The Communication Landscape, And In The Applications Of Critical Literacy, She Examines The Theory Underpinning Each Orientation, And Develops New Theory In The Argument For Interdependence And Integration. Turning To Literacy -- Orientations To Literacy -- Language And Power -- Reading Texts Critically -- Diversity, Difference And Disparity -- Access, Gate-keeping And Desire -- Critical Text Production: Writing And Design -- Redesign, Social Action And Possibilities For Transformation -- The Future Of Critical Literacy. Hilary Janks. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 225-235) And Index. In this book--a landmark text that is both engaging and accessible--Hilary Janks addresses the following questions and many more: Is literacy a skill or a social practice? In what ways is literacy embodied? Do texts have designs on us and what can we do about it? How does language construct reality? What is "linguistic capital" and who has it?Who gets access to new literacies and who is excluded? How is literacy implicated in relations of power and questions of identity in our daily lives? Janks shows how competing orientations to critical literacy education--domination (power), access, diversity, design--foreground one over the other. Her central argument is that these different orientations are crucially interdependent and need to work together to create possibilities for redesign and social action that serve a social justice agenda. Recognizing ongoing change in socio-historical conditions, in the communication landscape, and in the applications of critical literacy, she examines the theory underpinning each orientation, and develops new theory in the argument for interdependence and integration. Most important, Literacy and Power sits at the interface between theory and practice, constantly moving from one to the other. It is rich with examples of how to use these orientations in real teaching contexts, and how to use them to counterbalance one another. In the groundbreaking final chapter, Janks shows ways of working "beyond reason". Considering how the rationalist underpinning of critical literacy tends to exclude the non-rational--pleasure and play, desire and the unconscious--she makes the case that these need to be taken seriously given their power to cut across the work of critical literacy educators working from any orientation Hilary Janks addresses key questions about literacy and power in this landmark text that is both engaging and accessible. Her central argument is that competing orientations to critical literacy education - domination (power), access, diversity, design - foreground one over the other, but are crucially interdependent and need to work together to create possibilities for redesign and social action that serve a social justice agenda. She examines the theory underpinning each orientation, and develops new theory in the argument for interdependence and integration. Sitting at the interface between theory and practice, constantly moving from one to the other, the text is rich with examples of how to use these orientations in real teaching contexts, and how to use them to counterbalance one another. In the groundbreaking final chapter Janks considers how the rationalist underpinning of critical literacy tends to exclude the non-rational shows ways of working beyond reason - pleasure and play, desire and the unconscious - and makes the case that these need to be taken seriously given their power to cut across the work of critical literacy educators working from any orientation. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Foreword......Page 10 Preface......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 18 CHAPTER 1 Turning to Literacy......Page 24 CHAPTER 2 Orientations to Literacy......Page 44 CHAPTER 3 Language and Power......Page 58 CHAPTER 4 Reading Texts Critically......Page 84 CHAPTER 5 Diversity, Difference and Disparity......Page 122 CHAPTER 6 Access, Gate-Keeping and Desire......Page 150 CHAPTER 7 Critical Text Production: Writing and Design......Page 178 CHAPTER 8 Redesign, Social Action and Possibilities for Transformation......Page 204 CHAPTER 9 The Future of Critical Literacy......Page 226 References......Page 248 Index......Page 260 In this book--a landmark text that is both engaging and accessible--Hilary Janks addresses the following questions and many more:. Is literacy a skill or a social practice?. In what ways is literacy embodied?. Do texts have designs on us and what can we do about it?. How does language construct reality?. What is "linguistic capital" and who has it?. Who gets access to new literacies and who is excluded?. How is literacy implicated in relations of power and questions of identity in our daily lives?. Janks shows how competing orientations to critical literacy education--domination (power) In this book' a landmark text that is both engaging and accessible' Hilary Janks addresses the following questions and many more: Is literacy a skill or a social practice? In what ways is literacy embodied? Do texts have designs on us and what can we do about it? How does language construct reality? What is "linguistic capital" and who has it? Who gets access to new literacies and who is excluded? How is literacy implicated in relations of power and questions of identity in our daily lives? Janks shows how competing orientations to ..