Situated Literacies: Theorising Reading and Writing in Context

Situated Literacies is a rich and varied collection of key writings from leading international scholars in the field of literacy. Each contribution, written in a clear, accessible style, makes the link between literacies in specific contexts and broader social practices.
Detailed ethnographic studies of a wide variety of specific situations, all involving real texts and lived practices, are balanced with general claims about the nature of literacy. Contributors address a coherent set of issues:
* the visual and material aspects of literacy
* concepts of time and space in relation to literacy
* the functions of literacies in shaping and sustaining identities in communities of practice
* the relationship between texts and the practices associated with their use
the role of discourse analysis on literacy studies
These studies, along with a foreword by Denny Taylor, make a timely and important contribution to literacy theory and suggest directions for the further development of the field. Situated Literacies is essential reading for anyone involved in literary education.

David Barton, Mary Hamilton and Roz Ivanic are all based at Lancaster University. David Barton is the Literacies series editor and has previously collaborated with Mary Hamilton on Local Literacies (1998) Roz Ivanic is the co-author of The Politics of Writing (1997)