The Jones Family's Culture of Literacy

Abstract

This article considers the uses of literacy within the Jones family (all names are pseudonyms), an African American family who lives in the rural South of the United States. Drawing on life history data with three women in the Jones family—Harriet Jones (grandmother), Sally Harris (mother), and Lola Harris (granddaughter)—the author traces how literacy has been practiced intergenerationally within the family. As such, the Joneses' intergenerational literacy practices comprise a culture of literacy within the family. Such a culture of literacy serves as a potential pedagogical resource for supporting the education of the family's youngest member, KiKi Reynolds (great‐granddaughter), who has just completed her kindergarten year. Through this exploration of literacy within the Jones family, the author argues that family must be considered a cultural context for literacy learning. In asking literacy educators and researchers to widen their lenses on the cultural contexts in which children engage in literacy practice, intergenerational literacy can offer teachers more complex, asset‐oriented interpretations of their students and their families.

If “Black Lives Matter in Literacy Research,” Then Take This Racial Turn: Developing Racial Literacies

“…Muhammad, 2020; Parker, 2020; Tatum, 2009), literary and literacies traditions (Belt-Beyan, 2004; Fisher, 2009; Harris, 1992; McHenry, 2002; Ntiri, 2014; Power-Carter et al, 2019; Richardson, 2003; Willis, 2002), digital tool uses (Lewis Ellison, 2017; Lewis Ellison & Solomon, 2019; Tichavakunda & Tierney, 2018), reading and writing practices (Asher, 1978; Austin, 1972; Guillory & Gifford, 1980; Guthrie et al, 2009; McHenry & Heath, 1994; G. E. Muhammad et al, 2017; Tatum, 2009), gifts, talents and high-achievement (Ford, 1995; Ford et al, 2018; Grantham et al, 2011), assessment data indicators (Anderson, 2007; Cohen et al, 2012; Ferguson, 2003; Flowers, 2016; Irvine, 1990; Smith et al, 2019; Thompson & Shamberger, 2015; Willis, 2019), family and community literacies (Edwards, 1993; Gadsden, 1992; Heath, 1983/2008, especially the often overlooked “Black townspeople”; Johnson, 2010; Lewis, 2013), youth literacies (Carter, 2007; Kinloch et al, 2017; Kirkland & Jackson, 2009; Morrell, 2008), or racial literacies (Croom, in press) of Black children and adults without accounting for and examining the historical and current practices and consequences of race? For that matter, in the United States (and other racially Westernized contexts), how does “literacy” of any kind, for any racially classified group, make sense without accounting for the ongoing racialization of human beings that began in Western Europe?…”

Examining the Role that Families Play in Shaping Children’s Attitudes toward Reading

“…Intergenerational literacy draws from beliefs about knowledge, its power, and its contributions to the future…It houses vision and implicit meanings and purposes that are constructed and conveyed within families and communities, that are influenced by societal success and barriers, and that becomes a part of our own social and contextual historiography. (p. 872) In Johnson's (2010) study, the researcher explored the literacy practices of African-American families within a rural community in southeastern United States. Her research centered in on one family, tracing their traditions and cultures of literacy that had been passed along through multiple generations.…”

“Why Downt You Riyt Back to Me?”

“…Cultural aspects of learning can explain how cultural practices of prior generations help children develop as participants in their own families (Rogoff, ) as extended family members play a role in the literacy development of young children. It also draws on a view of family literacy that promotes the context of family (Wollman‐Bonilla, ), where home literacy practices are valued (Johnson, ; Rasinski & Padak, ). Finally, it draws on the notion that extended family is important and extended family members have stories and legacies to share—stories that are worth writing down (Dworin, ).…”