Rural Literacies

 

Kim Donehower, Charlotte Hogg, and Eileen E. Schell

paper, 0-8093-2749-X, $29.50s
978-0-8093-2749-2
240 pages, 5 x 8
Rhetoric/Composition
Studies in Writing and Rhetoric
Robert Brooke, series editor

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Thinking critically about the challenges of rural literacy

Rural Literacies identifies the problems inherent in trying to understand rural literacy, addresses the lack of substantive research on literacy in rural areas, and reviews traditional misrepresentations of rural literacy.

This innovative volume frames debates over literacy in relation to larger social, political, and economic forces, such as the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on rural schools and the effects of out-migration, globalization, and the loss of small family farms on rural communities.   

Drawing upon traditional literacy and composition research and employing theory from education and sociology, the text engages compositionists in broader conversations regarding rural literacies. The authors share strategies that will help compositionists participate in pedagogies that are rooted in a richer understanding of rural literacies and work toward sustainability for all communities in a globalized age.

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 “With its examination of the literacy practices of ordinary women and men in rural places, this book dispels the mischaracterization of rural literacy as lagging behind that of urban centers. Rural Literacies demonstrates that all educators concerned with environmental sustainability and economic justice have much to learn from the struggles and strategies of rural and small-town dwellers in the contemporary United States.”

—Nancy Welch, University of Vermont

 “Rural Literacies is an important piece of scholarship that challenges compositionists to think more critically about how rural America defines and is defined by our students.”

—Bruce Ballenger, Boise State University

“. . . rural should not be seen in opposition to urban but as part of a complex global economic and social network.”—From the Preface

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Kim Donehower is an assistant professor of English and the director of the Red River Valley writing project at the University of North Dakota.

Charlotte Hogg is an assistant professor of English at Texas Christian University.

Eileen E. Schell is an associate professor of writing and rhetoric and the director of the composition and cultural rhetoric doctoral program at Syracuse University.