The (im)materiality of literacy: the significance of subjectivity to new literacies research |
| |
| Authors: | Cathy Burnett Guy Merchant Kate Pahl Jennifer Rowsell |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Teacher Education, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK;2. School of Education, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK;3. Department of Teacher Education, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada |
| |
| Abstract: | This article deconstructs the online and offline experience to show its complexities and idiosyncratic nature. It proposes a theoretical framework designed to conceptualise aspects of meaning-making across on- and offline contexts. In arguing for the ‘(im)materiality’ of literacy, it makes four propositions which highlight the complex and diverse relationships between the immaterial and material associated with meaning-making. Complementing existing sociocultural perspectives on literacy, the article draws attention to the significance of relationships between space, mediation, materiality and embodiment to literacy practices. This in turn emphasises the importance of the subjective in understanding how different locations, experiences and so forth inflect literacy practice. The article concludes by drawing on the Deleuzian concept of the ‘baroque’ to suggest that this focus on articulations between the material and immaterial helps us to see literacy as multiply and flexibly situated. |
| |
| Keywords: | literacy online space mediation materiality embodiment |
|
|
