New Special Issue "Against Autonomous Literacies: Extending the World of Brian V. Street"

We are delighted to announce the publication of the special issue of Literacy in Composition Studies, “Against Autonomous Literacies: Extending the Work of Brian V. Street,” guest edited by Antonio Byrd, Jordan Hayes, and Nicole Turnipseed. Brian Street, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 73, was a member of the LiCS editorial board from its inception and contributed to the journal’s inaugural issue. Street is well-known for his foundational work in New Literacy Studies and his interdisciplinary work across the fields of literacy studies, anthropology, ethnography, and education. Our field, and LiCS specifically, continues to be impacted significantly by Street’s work, and we hope the contents of this issue honor and extend his legacy. 

We invite readers to take up the questions and challenges raised in this issue in short submissions to the Symposium section of our next issues. 

This issue features the following pieces:

• “Against Autonomous Literacies: Extending the Work of Brian V. Street: Introduction to the Special Issue” by Antonio Byrd, Jordan Hayes, and Nicole Turnipseed

 

• “Self-Contradiction in Faculty's Talk about Writing: Making and Unmaking Autonomous Models of Literacy” by Andrea R. Olinger

 

• “Searching for Street's "Mix" of Literacies through Composing Video: Conceptions of Literacy and Moments of Transfer in Basic Writing” by Crystal VanKooten and Elizabeth G. Allan

 

• “Brian Street and African American Feminist Practices: Two Histories, Two Texts” by Faye Spencer Maor

 

• “Composing Literary Arguments in an 11th Grade International Baccalaureate Classroom: How Classroom Instructional Conversations Shape Modes of Participation” by George E. Newell, Theresa Siemer Thanos, Matt Seymour

 

• “Making Sense of Researcher Positionality in Foundational Literacy Studies Research,” a symposium essay by Amy J. Wan

 

• “What Counts as Literacy in Health Literacy: Applying the Autonomous and Ideological Models of Literacy,” a symposium essay by Anne Marie Liebel

 

• “Re/Engaging Street to Address Multiplicity in Composition Classrooms,” a symposium essay by Vivette Milson-Whyte

 

• “Misguided Expectations: The Ideological Framework of the Autonomous Model,” a symposium essay by Nancy G. Barrón, Sibylle Gruber

 

• A review of Kate Vieira’s Writing for Love and Money: How Migration Drives Literacy Learning in Transnational Families by Ashley Canter

 

• A review of Aneil Rallin’s Dreads and Open Mouths: Living/Teaching/Writing Queerly by Andrew Harnish

 

Thank you to the special issue editors, Antonio Byrd, Jordan Hayes, and Nicole Turnipseed for this terrific issue. Thank you, as always, to Book Review Editor Helen Sandoval. 

LiCS is an open-access online scholarly journal--please share this timely issue with your colleagues and networks. We welcome queries at licsjournal@gmail.com. 

We hope you enjoy the read!