Abstract
In this article we explore creativity in everyday literacies. We arguethat much creativity can be found in the seemingly mundane and repetitiveacts of text production and text use that are part of everyday life and work.Such creativity can only be identified, however, if we look beyond the textsthemselves and examine the practices of making and engaging with texts.Once we leave aside conventional text-based notions of creativity, whichfocus on aesthetic features of language, we can understand creativity as a‘popular’ and ‘ubiquitous’ event. To support our argument, we giveexamples from two different contexts: research on literacy in a parishcommunity in the North-West of England and a study of literacy in relationto community-based tourism in Namibia.
Highlights
In this article we explore creativity in everyday literacies
Much of the focus of work in literacy studies has been on researching such practices in different contexts, describing the range of activities and meanings involved and relating the local literacy practices to the broader social context, challenging ‘autonomous’ notions of literacy
That the socially situated nature of literacy practices has been established, it is of value to explore in more depth what this means for various aspects of our understandings of text in people’s lives
Summary
Literacy studies has long challenged previously dominant notions of literacy as a decontextualised skill (Street 1984, Barton 2007). Studies of literacy practices in context have shown clearly that people produce, use and generally interact with texts in different ways in different social contexts. These practices are patterned by social structures, institutions and power relationships. Much of the focus of work in literacy studies has been on researching such practices in different contexts, describing the range of activities and meanings involved and relating the local literacy practices to the broader social context, challenging ‘autonomous’ notions of literacy (see for example Street 1993, 2001, Barton and Hamilton 2000). That the socially situated nature of literacy practices has been established, it is of value to explore in more depth what this means for various aspects of our understandings of text in people’s lives
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