Language, Literacy, and Power

Identities and Writing or Written Expression My understanding of identity theory is very unclear, and as I provide this reflection I am pondering and questioning what it actually is. So I begin with a definition. Whenever I am unclear about what something means, I look it up. I begin with habitus . Habitus as presented by Bordieu (1990) is believed to be an evolving set of schema that develop through relationships as people adjust, adapt, and negotiate within and across multiple contexts (Compton-Lilly, 2014; Roswell & Pahl, 2007). Social Theory Re-Wired  (http://routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/habitus) states that " habitus is one of Bordieu's most influential yet ambiguous concepts [and] refers to the physical embodiment of cultural capital, to the deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that we possess due to our life experiences." Much like Marxist theory, habitus is very socially heirarchical. People can adapt their habitus to accommodate ...

When thinking of New Literacies Studies (Street, 2003), I am inclined to think of it as a critical social practice which asks the questions of : Whose literacies are dominant? Whose literacies are marginalized? and Whose literacies are resistant? Literacy then is not a technical or neutral skill as the autonomous model of literacy would suggest. Rather, literacy is closer akin to the ideological model of literacy which posits that it is a social practice that is always embedded in socially constructed epistemological principles (Street, 2003, p. 77). Within NLS there are literacy events and literacy practice that work upon a continuum of sorts, with a shift from observing literacy events to conceptualizing literacy practices (Street, 2003, p. 79). Street (2003, 1998), describes the shift as involving both "events" (Heath, 1982) and social models of literacy that participants bring to bear upon those events and that give meaning to them. Wohlwend (2009) provides us with th...

Figured Worlds Guiding Questions: What figured world is constructed? What artifacts pivot the activity?What identities are performed? What agency and power is exerted or resisted in this data sample? What sociocultural norms are performed or resisted (cultural, linguistic, racial, gendered, religious, class….) In what ways are these figured worlds familiar or new to you? Following this week's reading, I believe that I have a better understanding of Holland et al. (1998) definition of figured worlds. All of this week's reading - Barron, 2013; Gelfuso & Dennis, 2017; and Blackburn, 2002-2003) reference the definition of a complex and multi-layered concept of identity, and Barron (2013) and Blackburn (2002-2003) reference the 4 key concepts or contexts of identity: "figured world, positionality, space of authoring, and making worlds" (Barron, 2013, p. 5; Blackburn, 2002-2003, pp. 313-314).  I suppose that this week's articles figured worlds are somewhat fa...

Making Sense of Figured Worlds and Identity How I am making sense of figured worlds After reading Holland et al. (1998) Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds, I find myself seeing the world of academia, of which I am currently immersed, as a figured world in the truest sense. According to the authors, "figured worlds rest upon people's abilities to form and be formed in collectively realized "as if" realms" (p. 49). Their question of "What if there were a world called academia, where books were so significant that people would sit for hours on end, away from friends and family, writing them?" really resonated with me.  Academia is a figured world, created by those who positioned themselves as more knowledgeable than others and therefore capable of researching, scrutinizing, criticizing, and then writing about others in comparison to themselves and those whom they esteem. Holland et al. (1998) talk about the figured world as "a socially a...

What is Activity Theory? It is my understanding that within Activity Theory there are tools which are examined as being situated within actions, discourses, and activity systems (Bomer, 2003). Bomer utilizes a Vygotskian Framework to determine the affordances - intended and unintended - of the varied concrete tools the teacher placed in the classroom. Specifically, Bomer looked at how the tools were used to mediate culturally sanctioned states of mind. In laymen terms, classrooms and other environments are full of tools and how our students come to understand and utilize these tools - intended (what/how we/teacher would like them to use the tools) and unintended (ways that we/teacher didn't necessarily think of using the tools) - is both contextual and socio-culturally situated. Bomer (2003) states that the use of a tool - or learning to use a tool is nested in many layers of cultural and historical context" (p. 224). Vygotsky's Theory calls for the use of media or tool...

My Identity Exploration: Christina U. King