Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Local Publics

By Elenore Long

Offering a comparative analysis of community-literacy studies, Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Local Publics traces common values in diverse accounts of "ordinary people going public." Elenore Long offers a rich theoretical framework for reviewing emergent community-literacy projects, examines pedagogies that educators can use to help students to go public in the course of their rhetorical education at college, and adapts local-public literacies to college curricula. A glossary and annotated bibliography provide the basis for further inquiry and research.

"Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Local Publics is the perfect entry to the exuberant practice of literacy in community. It brings contemporary research to life—in people, stories, and purposes. And it documents the amazingly diverse ways ordinary people go public."

—Linda Flower, Carnegie Mellon

"Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Local Publics begins to articulate a history for community literacy studies, and such a history is essential for helping us figure out where we are going with this area of inquiry. Long provides a new set of tools as well, and her local publics framework, in particular, will prove valuable to researchers and teachers alike."

—Jeff Grabill, Michigan State

About the Author

After completing a postdoctoral fellowship through Pittsburgh's Community Literacy Center and Carnegie Mellon University, Elenore Long continued to direct community-literacy initiatives with Wayne Peck and Joyce Baskins. With Linda Flower and Lorraine Higgins, she published Learning to Rival: A Literate Practice for Intercultural Inquiry. They recently published a fifteen-year retrospective for the Community Literacy Journal. She currently directs the composition program and Writers' Center at Eastern Washington University.

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Front Matter and Table of Contents (74K)

Preface (45K)

Acknowledgments (48K)

1. Introduction and Overview (101K)

2. Definitions and Distinctions (104K)

3. Locating Community Literacy Studies (175K)

4. An Impromptu Theater: A Local Public That Turns Its Back on Formal Institutions (76K)

5. The Cultural Womb and the Garden: Local Publics That Depend on Institutions to Sponsor Them (126K)

6. The Link and Gate: Local Publics That Intersect with Public Institutions (168K)

7. The Community-Organizing Effort and the Community Think Tank: Local Publics Forged in Partnership with Formal Institutions (168K)

8. The Shadow System: A Local Public That Defies Formal Institutions (124K)