From the Review Desk

I sit at my desk, writing this introduction fresh from this year’s Watson Conference, the theme of which was “Working English in Rhetoric and Composition: Global-Local Contexts, Commitments, Consequences,” and I am reminded how important the work that we do in community literacy is. Throughout the conference, presenters focused on the complexity of literate practices in both the educational and public spheres—work that we have engaged with since the inception of this journal. Once again, the book review section of the Community Literacy Journal reflects the wide range of research topics driving our field as we theorize and practice literacy both in and out of formalized educational settings.

Stephanie Vie’s Keyword essay “Qualitative Research” brings together a number of useful methodological sources that our readers can study and employ. Her echoed call for ethics in qualitative research is found in a number of sources that she cites. Following this is Faith Kurtyka’s review of the recently republished Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language by Barton, which reminds us of the ecology metaphor as a means by which we can think through and interrogate literacy practices and policies. The complexities of literacy practices in global cultures and contexts are taken up in Hsiao-ping Wu’s review of International English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy. The final three reviews are grounded in specific groups. Lauren Bowen offers a review of Senior Citizens Writing I & II, two collections that collect literacy practices and reflections from senior citizens with editorial comments. Monica Lott’s review of Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy helps us to historicize community literacy practices through an analysis of a single historical character. And finally, Lorraine Higgins reviews Colorado State University’s community literacy website, offering a perspective on strengths and weaknesses that might guide people in either using the site or designing one of their own.

Thanks to the careful scholarship being conducted by contributors to this journal and others worldwide, this research is being made available at an astounding rate. As such, we encourage you to contact us about a book, documentary, or alternative medium that you have read/watched/ participated in that would interest readers of this journal. Further, since we are currently unable to keep up with the rate of publication, we have instituted a keywords essay—a short five-to-seven-page synthesis that brings together multiple contemporary sources on a single topic. If you are interested in contributing to the Book and New Media Review section with either a review or a keywords essay, please contact me at jdewinter@wpi.edu.

Also visit <http://www.communityliteracy.org/index.php/clj/pages/view/reviews>.