Pursuing a literacy research in precarious times

ABSTRACT

Multiple literacy practices, such as writing, texting, blogging and journaling, are intertwined in a crisis. Although many studies have been conducted on literacy practices arising from crises such as a divorce, a disaster and social activism , most of them are focused on a single event. In this chapter, I propose a method for examining literacy practices in dual-layered crises. Drawing from huge data (collected from March 2016–2019), during a commemoration, which doubled up as a protest in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this paper illustrates how the works of literacy or signs in open public spaces can be documented using photographic dat. While there is no one fix method, I argue for a systematic approach by asking researchers to think about the subjectivities of managing huge data sets.

KEYWORDS:

• Literacy
• linguistic landscape
• geosemiotics
• photographic data; ethnographic method
• public writings

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Suriati Abas

Suriati Abas is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education and Reading at State University of New York (SUNY) College at Oneonta. Her research focuses on spatial, digital and critical dimensions of literacy within and beyond the school context.