Focus on the power dimensions of an adult’s literacy-related practices

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the power dimension of social practices. The study sought to understand the literacy-related practices of a retired woman without a high-school diploma in everyday life and community activities. It drew on social practice theories, the New Literacy Studies, and transformative learning. The ethnographic approach chosen to provide a thick description of practices, involving participant observation and interviews, allowed the power dimension to surface. The study contributed an in-depth analysis of the singular experience of an adult faced with literacy challenges in power-embedded contexts, as defined in three main findings. First, it revealed unexpected empowering achievements from an adult with little formal education not usually captured in standardised evaluations. Second, it outlined three intermingled practice categories that evolved during a lifelong project: resourceful literacy, self-directed learning, and ambivalent participation in the community. Third, the participant’s ambivalence provided a strong means to uncover the power dimension of social practices in the form of a dialectic between solidarity and domination relationships. Experiences of solidarity encouraging participation in literacy, learning, and community activities and of domination inhibiting participation are described. Implications point to emancipatory approaches in adult literacy, learning, and education, as well as prior learning recognition.

KEYWORDS:

• Adult literacy
• power
• social practices
• transformative learning

Acknowledgments

I extend special thanks to my thesis advisors, professors Jimmy Bourque and Hélène Albert (Université de Moncton). I am grateful to Professor Rachel Bélisle (Université de Sherbrooke) for connecting researchers interested in adult education and literacy studies. Sincere thanks also go to Dr. Virginie Thériault and co-editors, for initiating and coordinating this special issue, and sincere gratitude to editors of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This article (Barton & Hamilton, 2010) is a revision of an early major work (Barton & Hamilton, 1998).

Additional information

Funding

This research was not funded.