Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language 2nd ed (review)

In November of last year, the CCCC executive committee released a position statement on “faculty work in community-based settings,” the opening line of which declares that “composing practices are always situated within particular contexts” and that all language practices “are integrally connected to issues of identity, authority, and agency.” That the executive committee would open with this statement as a matter of fact is testament to the way that Literacy Studies (sometimes called New Literacy Studies), which investigates the social contexts of literacy practices, has greatly influenced thinking in the field about literacy works. David Barton’s Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language is a clear introduction to the field of Literacy Studies for scholars new to the field or for those looking to flesh out their understanding of literacy theory. Though its bolded terms, headings, and neat organization make it appear to be a reference book, Barton’s work is easily digested in segments or as a whole, even in one sitting. First published in 1994, then republished in 2007 with updated references and an explanation of research methodology, Literacy contains the theoretical frameworks behind social models of literacy beginning in the 1960s through the present day, matching up some of the more abstract ideas with concrete ethnographic examples from both past and contemporary scholarship.

In chapter one, “An Integrated Approach to Literacy,” and chapter two, “Talking about Literacy,” Barton surveys the field of literacy studies by looking at how both scholarly and vernacular metaphors for literacy become theories about literacy. For example, discussing illiteracy as a disease that must be cured means that people who have low levels of literacy need “treatment” via “clinical intervention” (13). Talking about illiteracy as a kind of oppression means that people need to be empowered to critical consciousness (13). Barton recommends conceiving of literacy as “ecology” because this metaphor “aims to understand how literacy is embedded in other human activity . . . in social life and thought, and its position in history, in language and in learning” (32). Based on this understanding, literacy practices become less isolated activities and more intertwined with social practices. Barton finds this metaphor useful because it is helpful for seeing some languages as endangered and consequently worthy of preservation, because it emphasizes the importance of maintaining the diversity of languages and because the influence of technology on literacy practices amounts to a kind of ecological shift. The metaphor of literacy as ecology is woven through most of the book, and the concluding chapter explores the implications of this view.

In chapter three, “The Social Basis of Literacy,” Barton outlines the central concepts of literacy as a social practice, many of which have become commonplace and will be familiar to scholars in community literacy. People draw upon literacy practices during literacy events; people use different literacies in different parts of their of life; literacy exists in a network of social relations and information; literacy practices are about people’s attitudes towards those practices as much as they are about the practices themselves; and literacy is historically rooted (34). Each concept is connected to concrete examples from ethnographies of literacy. For instance, Barton illustrates the concept that literacies are connected to “domains of life” by using data from his own research that shows how one research participant’s daily activities are linked to literacy practices, like reading books and newspapers at the library, or writing a letter of reference for an acquaintance from work (37–38). The articulation of research methods of social literacies in chapter four, “Researching Literacy Practices,” would be a helpful tool to community literacy researchers designing studies as well as those looking to understand the methodology and assumptions informing ethnographies of community literacies, like Barton and Hamilton’s Local Literacies or Ralph Cintron’s Angels’ Town.

Chapters five through seven address both oral and written language, as well as reading as a literacy practice. Barton...