Cultural Practices of Literacy: Case Studies of Language, Literacy, Social Practice, and Power ed. by Victoria Purcell-Gates (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Cultural Practices of Literacy: Case Studies of Language, Literacy, Social Practice, and Power ed. by Victoria Purcell-Gates Kelly A. Concannon Mannise Cultural Practices of Literacy: Case Studies of Language, Literacy, Social Practice, and Power Purcell-Gates, Victoria, ed. Mahwah, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007. Print. $46.95 In Cultural Practices of Literacy Victoria Purcell-Gates argues that school-based literacy instruction does not necessarily transfer into the literacy practices in individuals’ everyday lives. Drawing from a theoretical framework that reveals how literacy is a social practice, Purcell-Gates constructs an edited collection where contributors to this volume are part of the Cultural Practices of the Literacy Studies (CPLS) team. The collection disrupts an assumed correlation between direct English-based literacy instruction in schools and the literacies practiced by members of traditionally marginalized groups in everyday contexts. Contributors to this collection employ ethnographic methodologies to provide a careful and detailed account of participants’ uses of literacy within and outside of the classroom. They present complex accounts of individuals’ literacy practices, indicating how power is always embedded in the use of reading, writing, and speaking, as many scholars invested in “non-traditional” literacies have long explored (See Albright, Ball; Cushman; Barton and Hamilton; Brandt; Brodkey; Gee). The first chapter affords readers with the theoretical and methodological basis for the Cultural Practices of Literacy Studies (CPLS) study. In “Complicating the Complex,” Purcell-Gates discusses how each chapter follows a standard protocol that explicitly reveals contributors’ locations and relationships to participants. This move serves as a general introduction to each chapter, which is followed by a description of the historical and/or cultural contexts where literacy practices emerge. The framework informs all studies in the collection; Purcell-Gates intends to encourage readers to identify patterns across studies and make more generalized claims about the relationships amongst schooling, literacy, and literacy development. To that end, Purcell-Gates gathers information about the material conditions through which individuals participate in literacy events—emphasizing the extent to which literacy is a social practice—while presenting substantial evidence for an understanding of how hegemony, power, and domination affect the uses and representations of literacies (15-17). [End Page 121] The collection is invested in changing the ways that certain literacy practices are valued over others. Purcell-Gates argues that this collection responds to a need to “paint a picture of literacy as multiple and social”; therefore, she optimistically positions this project as one that presents a global range of the ways individuals use literacy practices (ix). Contributors seek to provide a more global understanding of contested uses of literacy in spaces not fully explored by researchers; however, their commitment to these outcomes and their use of an ethnographic methodology may limit this outcome. The collection falls short in providing a full account of the most valued literacy practices of participants. Because of the large scope of this project, it is difficult to make substantial claims about patterns in literacy use in such different populations. The collection provides snapshots of school-based literacy practices as well as those performed outside of the traditional classroom, where a small number of individuals serve as representatives of a particular group. This need for consistency across chapters in the CLPS study—along with multiple exigencies to establish historical and cultural contexts of particular rhetorical situations where literacy practices are employed— makes it more difficult for contributors to create substantial claims about the social nature of literacy of a more global range of participants. The collection is broken down into four sections. The beginning of the collection discusses how linguistic hegemony in the context of imperialism is demonstrated through the lives of both Puerto Rican farmers and Botswana students. In this first portion, “Language, Literacy, and Hegemony,” participants reflect on their literacy practices and produce detailed accounts of how they use English and their respective native languages at work, in schools, and in the home. Contributors address the larger cultural attitude that English is needed for access into a global economy because they highlight how participants are rhetorically savvy in gaining access to information and resources while not fully assimilating into the dominant culture. For example, in chapter 3 “Language and Literacy Issues...