Literacy in Times of Crisis: Practices and Perspectives

214 Pages·2009·1.38 MB·English

by  Laurie MacGillivray

Literacy in Times of Crisis
“The authors push the reader beyond simplistic understandings of literacy....
To my knowledge there is not another book that brings attention to our
national and international interdependence on individual and collective
literacy in a way that is as powerful.”
Etta R. Hollins, University of Southern California
“Fresh, provocative, timely, and important, this volume extends the field of
sociocultural literacies in new directions. Covering an excellent range of issues,
populations, and geographical areas, what unites it is its attention to the ways
in which literacy practices serve people who face different kinds of challenges
in their lives.”
Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, University of California,
Los Angeles
On the frontline of critical issues in education today, this volume covers new
ground for teachers and teacher educators for whom crisis is a daily part of
their work. It explores the relationship between crisis and literacy in order to:
• improve educators’ ability to recognize, cope with, and avoid crisis;
• advance understanding of the dynamic relationship between crisis and
cultural, historical, and political literacy practices; and
• contribute to a deeper theoretical understanding of literacy practices as
they are situated in social practices.
The types of crises addressed are diverse, including natural disaster, cultural
and community disjuncture, homelessness, family upheaval, teen pregnancy,
and disability. Along with nine empirical studies, a teacher early in her career,
a veteran teacher, and a teacher educator share their perspectives in commen-
tary sections at the opening and conclusion of the book in order to provide
applications to their specific fields.
Laurie MacGillivray is Professor of Literacy in the College of Education at
the University of Memphis.

Literacy in Times
of Crisis
Practices and Perspectives
Edited by Laurie MacGillivray
First published 2010
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
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© 2010 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Literacy in times of crisis : practices and perspectives /
edited by Laurie MacGillivray.
p. cm.
1. Language arts–Psychological aspects.
2. Students–United States–Psychology. 3. Crisis intervention
(Mental health services)–United States. 4. Language arts
teachers–United States–Anecdotes.
I. MacGillivray, Laurie.
LB1575.8.L54 2010
428.0071–dc22 2009035374
ISBN 0-203-86629-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0-415-87163-8 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0-415-87164-6 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0-203-86629-0 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-87163-1 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-87164-8 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-203-86629-0 (ebk)
Dedication
To Billy, Mom, and Dad for helping me collect life’s
goodness and showing me how to share it.

Contents
Preface ix
Personal Prologue xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Introduction: Examining Crisis 1
LAURIE MACGILLIVRAY AND DEVON BRENNER
2 Commentators’ Introductions 6
TRACY SWEENEY (EARLY CAREER TEACHER)
JANE CHING FUNG (VETERAN TEACHER)
ELIZABETH BIRR MOJE (TEACHER EDUCATOR
AND RESEARCHER)
PART I
Reading and Writing in Times of Crisis 13
3 Making Contact in Times of Crisis: Literacy
Practices in a Post-Katrina World 15
APRIL WHATLEY BEDFORD AND DEVON BRENNER
4 “Hallelujah!” Bible-Based Literacy
Practices of Children Living in a
Homeless Shelter 32
LAURIE MACGILLIVRAY
5 Reactions to Divorce: Communication
and Child Writing Practices 47
GISELE RAGUSA
6 Reading and Writing Teenage Motherhood: Changing
Literacy Practices and Developing Identities 66
KARA L. LYCKE
viii Contents
7 When Daddy Goes to Prison: Examining
Crisis through Fanfiction and Poetry 83
MARY K. THOMPSON
8 Disability Identification: Shifts in
Home Literacy Practices 100
GISELE RAGUSA
PART II
Crises Arising from Literate Practices 119
9 Finding Husbands, Finding Wives:
How Being Literate Creates Crisis 121
LOUKIA K. SARROUB
10 A State Takeover: The Language
of a School District Crisis 138
REBECCA ROGERS AND KATHRYN POLE
11 Brewing a Crisis: Language,
Educational Reform, and the Defense
of a Nation 159
SUSAN FLORIO-RUANE
PART III
Reflecting on Crisis and Literacy 177
12 Commentators’ Insights 179
TRACY SWEENEY (EARLY CAREER TEACHER)
JANE CHING FUNG (VETERAN TEACHER)
ELIZABETH BIRR MOJE (TEACHER EDUCATOR
AND RESEARCHER)
Contributors 192
Index 194
Preface
This is a book about the importance of literacy in times of crisis. It explores the
relationship between crisis and literacy across a wide range of people, places,
cultures, and situations. Highlighting the complex interplay between crisis and
literacy practices, it looks at how literacy plays many roles—facilitating
communication, maintaining connection between survivors, expressing grief,
shaping memories, providing information, and so much more. The questions
at the heart of the book are these:
• What is the relationship between literacy and crisis?
• What literacy practices attenuate the impact of crisis?
• How do community literacy practices play a role in responding to crisis?
• What role does literacy play in the way families, schools, and communities
respond to crisis?
• What is the relationship between school literacy practices and crisis?
As I began exploring these issues in my own research, working to under-
stand the role of literacy practices in the lives of families living in homeless
shelters (Chapter 4), I became aware of the practices they rely on that often go
unrecognized by themselves and the schools. I began to talk with colleagues
about the complex interplay between crisis and literacy they are finding in
their own work, and learned about the research of others that examines the
complex relationship between literacy and crisis. This book is the result of
those conversations.
I talked with April Bedford and Devon Brenner about the ways that
crises can heighten the need for certain literacy practices, as revealed in
their analysis of the role of blogs and emails after Hurricane Katrina struck
(Chapter 3). I learned about the ability of literacy practices to sustain one’s
self during difficult times such as evident in Gisele Ragusa’s investiga-
tion of dialogue journals between parents and children during divorce
(Chapter 5) and Kara Lycke’s work with teenage mothers (Chapter 6). Also
connecting literacy and crisis, Mary Thompson’s work focuses on the way a
troubled teen used blogs and anime to craft a new identity after her father was
incarcerated (Chapter 7) and Gisele Ragusa’s analysis of the reading habits of