Critical Social Literacies

Critical Social Literacies

Christine Walton

This book opens up new critical positions on the study of literacies. It proposes that literacies are variable social practices which are embedded within social and historical contexts. From this position literacies are redefined to be inclusive of many different kinds of meaning making systems. Hence, literacies can include dance, painting, multi-media texts and so on, as well as oral and written texts. This position allows a variety of Indigenous texts to be included within discussions of literatures and literacies.

This book examines the deployment of literacies within Australian education. It seeks to re-define the field of literacy education to be more inclusive of the experiences of Indigenous peoples, women and ethnic peoples. It asks: what kinds of literacies are needed for active participation in a complex post-industrial society such as Australia? It suggests that literacies for this particular social, cultural, economic and political moment should be 'critical' and should entail access to and command over a complex range of contexts, discourses, texts and mediums.