'How people read and write and they don't even notice': everyday lives and literacies on a Midlands council estate

Jones, Susan

Abstract

This article presents data from a British Academy funded study of the everyday literacy practices of three families living on a predominantly white working class council housing estate on the edge of a Midlands city. The study explored, as one participant succinctly put it, ‘how people read and write and they don’t even notice’. This alludes to the ways in which everyday practices may not be recognised as part of a dominant model of literacy. The study considered too the ways in which these literacy practices are part of a wider policy context that also fails to notice the impact of austerity politics on everyday lives. An emphasis on quantitative measures of disadvantage and public discourse which vilifies those facing economic challenge can overshadow the resilience and resourcefulness of individuals and families in making meaning from their experiences. Drawing together consideration of everyday lives and the everyday literacies which are part of them, this article explores the impact of the current policy context on access to both economic and cultural resources, showing how literacy, as part of this context, should be recognised as a powerful means not only of constricting lives, but also of constructing them.

Citation

Jones, S. (2014). 'How people read and write and they don't even notice': everyday lives and literacies on a Midlands council estate. Literacy, 48(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12030

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 24, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Mar 3, 2014
• Publication Date: Jul 15, 2014
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Journal: Literacy
• Print ISSN: 1741-4350
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-4369
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12030
• Keywords: ethnography, home/school, new literacy studies, policy analysis
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/732532
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/lit.12030/full
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Jones, S. (2014), “How people read and write and they don't even notice”: everyday lives and literacies on a Midlands council estate. Literacy, 48: 59–65, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/lit.12030. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.