Deborah Brandt Article Discussion
by Caroline Kreul
Deborah Brandt’s, “The means of
production: Literacy and stratification at the twenty-first century,” discusses
the role of socioeconomic status and economic inequality in the development of
literacy. Brandt uses two interwoven, dissimilar anecdotes to illustrate how
different levels of economic and social status can lead to drastic differences
in literacy, even when accounting for physical location. The article also
touches on how different forms of literacy that are developed in childhood and
in the home are more applicable to the professional world than others,
providing an advantage to those whose literacy skills are conducive to success
in multiple spheres. This advantage, Brandt argues, continues the cycle of having
“the rich get richer, the literate get more literate,” (Brandt 2001).
A UW-Madison English Professor, Brandt’s research
focuses primarily on mass literacy in terms of social context in the late 20th
century and early 21st century. The reading is an excerpt from Literacy in American Lives, her book whose
analysis of literacy garnered attention in multiple arenas. According to the
UW-Madison English Department’s staff page, the book received three highly
regarded awards: the Mina
Shaughnessy Award from the Modern Language Association, the CCCC’s Best Book
Award and the Grawemeyer Award in Education from the University of Louisville. Along
with Literacy in American Lives,
Brandt authored many essays and frequently gives talks, a collection of which
was published in 2009 as Literacy and
Learning: Reflections on Writing, Reading, and Society. She also is working
on a new book which analyzes the rise of mass writing over the last 60 years
“as it has accompanied economic shifts and technological change,” entitled Writing Now: New Directions in Mass Literacy.
The writing of “Literacy in American Lives” stemmed from
Brandt’s research study in which she interviewed 80 people, born between 1895
and 1985, asking them about their earliest recollections of learning to read
and write. In a podcast
conducted by the University of Wisconsin Writing Center, Brandt shares that it
was during the course of this study that the connection between economic status
and literacy became apparent. It is also noted in the podcast that her research
has prompted further research by scholars and students into literacy
development in their respective regions and communities.
Based on her research, Brandt introduced the idea of
“sponsors of literacy,” defined as, “any agents, local or distant, concrete or
abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate,
suppress, or withhold literacy—and gain advantage by it in some way,” (Brandt,
2001). Given this
idea of there being “sponsors of literacy,” the publication itself has proved
to be thought provoking specifically for those studying to be educators. There
are multiple examples of educators and students thinking critically about what
it means to be a literacy sponsor, including slide-share projects from teaching
degree students (Hamilton, 2005) and its use in prescribed course readings
(Rounsaville). Other reviews of the publication are more critical, pointing out
the narrow scope that Brandt used (80 people all from Wisconsin) when claiming
that the findings are more generally applicable to the lives of Americans from
all over the United States (Hitt 2013).
Works Cited:
Brandt,
Deborah. Literacy in American Lives. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001.
Print.
Hamilton,
Buffy. "Reactions And Reading Notes To Literacy In American Lives June
2005 B..." Reactions And Reading Notes To Literacy In American Lives
June 2005. 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
Hitt,
Allison. "Literacy in American Lives." Accessing Rhetoric. 28
May 2013. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
Hughes,
Deborah. “Deborah Brandt on Literacy in
American Lives.” University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
Rounsaville,
Angela. "ENG 6811, Cultural Contexts Literacies In & Across
Contexts." University of Central Florida. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
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