Critical Literacies in Action: Social Perspectives and Teaching Practices (Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education)

Critical Literacies in Action: Social Perspectives and Teaching Practices asks how educators can become more experienced in order to truly support literacy, particularly for children of poverty or for those who have been labeled “at-risk”. This is especially important in current times, since a literate individual is one who is more successfully able to situate him- or herself within a continuum of lifelong learning in order to fulfill personal goals and to participate fully within the wider societyal context.
Although the word “literacy” has been with us for a very long time, the very meaning of the term itself has become increasingly complex due to a multiplicity of factors. At least in part, this complexity is a function of expanding and interconnecting notions of what it is that constitutes modern literacy as well as the increasingly technological nature of the world within which individuals live and learn. As such, a new horizon in literacy research has appeared, promising to renegotiate traditional definitions of the term “literate” and what it means to be critically literate in this increasingly complex world.
Definitions of literacy have also evolved along with the evolution of the computer. Currently, the term “literacy” describes a commitment to and participation in a multiplicity of meaning making systems, many of which exhibit ever-greater degrees of interdependence with one another. The term “Critical Literacy” has come into use relatively recently and is generally regarded as a sub-category of Critical Pedagogy―“Critical” because it promotes an agenda for positive social change.

Robert E White is an Emeritus Professor of Soil Science in the Department of Resource Management and Geography, School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Australia. He is author of Principles and Practice of Soil Science, 4th edition (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2006) and of Soils for Fine Wines, Oxford University Press 2003.