Spatializing Literacy Research and Practice (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies)

Current research on literacy often conceives space as a container within which social practice occurs. In sharp contrast, this edited collection argues that literary practice and social space are produced in relation to one another. Contributors to this collection consider how a spacial analysis provides entirely new information for the interpretation of literary practice. Traversing geography and literacy studies, drawing on Bakhtin, Deleuze and Guattari, Lefebvre, Soja, and a range of other theorists, contributors analyze space/literacy relations in diverse settings, including classrooms, prisons, streets, institutional programs, homes, and the popular media.

The Editors: Kevin M. Leander is Assistant Professor of Language and Literacy Education at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. in education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on understanding literacy as a spatial-social practice, on multimodality, and on digital literacies.
Margaret Sheehy is Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Reading at the University at Albany. She received her Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture from Ohio State University. Dr. Sheehy is politically committed to public education and researches the literacy practices of teachers and adolescents in middle schools.