Reading the World: Social Justice
Local Literacies
Reading the World
Spring 2023
Instructor: Dr. Monique McDade
Class time & location: MWF 2:45-4:00; Upjohn Library Commons 308
Contact: Monique.McDade@kzoo.edu
Office Hours & location:
MW 1:30-2:30, Humphrey House 205
Course Description
“Literacy is the most basic currency of the knowledge economy.”
President Barack Obama
Illiteracy is a global epidemic, and its consequences are far reaching. Illiteracy is tied to generational poverty, lack of healthcare, and job/educational inequities. According to the World Literacy Foundation, 1 in 5 people are completely illiterate and three-billion people around the globe struggle with basic reading and writing. More locally, 1 in 8 Kalamazoo adults face challenges with basic reading (Kalamazoo Literacy Council). But what do these numbers mean and what can be and is being done to address high rates of illiteracy in our local and global communities?
In this Reading the World course we will study local and global literacies and illiteracies in all their complexity. We will begin with addressing historical ways illiteracy has been weaponized against communities of color and women to control their access to a number of vital rights and services. We will then move to draw out and extrapolate upon the variety of literacies/illiteracies that impact our local community and to acknowledge the systematic power structures that contribute to illiteracy in each of these arenas. The course will end with an evaluation of local initiatives and organizations fighting to correct illiteracy.
In addition to completing the reading and writing assignments, students in this class are also committing to engaging with a series of community leaders as they visit our classroom. We will also be spending one of our class periods working with the Kalamazoo Public Library’s mobile library to recruit K College students to sign up for public library cards on campus. These community components of the course are integral for the learning outcomes and will be invaluable resources as you complete your writing projects.
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):
- Identify the different kinds of [il]literacies that operate both locally and globally.
- Discuss how [il]literacies have been and continue to be weaponized against marginalized and underrepresented groups.
- Understand the foundational role [il]literacies play in the distribution of generational wealth, knowledge, and democratic agency.
- Engage in ongoing debates about local and global [il]literacies through a dynamic research agenda.
- Demonstrate your ability to critically and argumentatively enter into ongoing conversations about local and global [il]literacies through writing.
- Reflect on your own [il]literacies and situate yourself and your “home” communities within this discourse.
Grading Scale
| A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | D- | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100-94 | 93-90 | 89-88 | 87-84 | 83-80 | 79-78 | 77-74 | 73-70 | 69-68 | 67-64 | 63-60 | 59- |
Required Assignments
| Writing Projects | Grade Percentage |
|---|---|
| Attendance & Participation | 15% |
| Literacy Narrative | 20% |
| Research Paper | 20% |
| Group Writing Project | 25% |
| Reflection Paper | 20% |
Brief Assignment Descriptions
- Attendance & Participation: Attendance and participation are important in any college classroom. Your learning depends on your presence as well as your contributions to discussions and activities. But it is even more important in our class. Over the course of the term, we will have a series of visitors talking to us about [il]literacy. We will also be assisting the Kalamazoo Public Library in recruiting K College students to sign up for a public library card here on campus. These components of our course are priceless to our understanding and engagement with local [il]literacies and your attendance and participation is crucial to your own learning and the overall success of the course.
- Literacy Narrative: The first major assignment requires that you reflect on your own literacy journey. You will write a three-page critical literacy narrative that will be posted in a public forum.
- Local Literacies Research Paper: After writing your own literacy narrative, you will then spend a few weeks collecting literacy accounts from others. Once you have collected these narratives, you will write a five-page research paper on the topic of local [il]literacies.
- Group Writing Project: Our final project in this course is a group and class initiative. This project will build upon your individual research papers and the literacy narratives you collected for that paper will once again be useful for you here. As a class, we will use Wix to create a class website intended to inform our local community about [il]literacies and the resources available to combat illiteracy. Each group will be responsible for a specific topic. We will also create a receptacle to display and share our own literacy narratives and the literacy narratives we collected from the research paper.
- Reflection Paper: Lastly, each student will write their own reflection paper to cap the course. This is an opportunity for you to critically engage with what you learned—what were your misconceptions about [il]literacy? What did you take for granted? What did you gain from the various components of the course. This assignment is to be more than just a diary or journal entry, but a critical essay in and of itself. You will utilize course readings and reflect on specific experiences you had in the course.
Required Texts
- Richard Wright, Black Boy
- John Corcoran, The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read
- Seventeen Syllables, Hisaye Yamamoto
- Flying Kites
- Our Bodies, Ourselves
- Arlie Russel Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land
- You will need access to Netflix
- Additional materials provided via Moodle
**This class also incorporates visits with local organizations involved in literacy projects. Some of these visitors will come to us and for others we will go to them. “Field trips” will typically happen after 4:00 and will have complimentary and mandatory assignments attached.**
COURSE Schedule
Week 1: March 27th – 31st
Week
Week 1: March 27th-31st
Literacy: what it is & what it gives us
Monday
Reading due:
- William Meredith, “Illiterate”
Wednesday
Reading due:
- Richard Wright, Black Boy (Ch. 13 & 14)
- David A. King, “The Library Card Episode”
Friday
Reading due:
- “Literacy Narrative,” Kiki Petrosino
Week 2: April 3rd – 7th
Week
Week 2: April 3rd-7th
Unit One: Defining & Undefining Illiteracy
Monday
Reading due:
- “Is the Literacy ‘Crisis’ Real”
- John Corcoran, The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read (Prologue through Chapter 9)
Wednesday
Reading due:
- John Corcoran, The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read (Chapter 10 through Epilogue)
Friday
Reading due:
- Hisaye Yamamoto, “Seventeen Syllables” & “Reading and Writing” from Seventeen Syllables
Week 3: April 10th – 14th
Week
Week 3: April 10th – 14th
Unit Two: Local illiteracies, Libraries, & Social Justice
Monday
*Kalamazoo Literacy Council Visitor*
Reading due:
- “Five Facts about Literacy in Kalamazoo”
Wednesday
Reading due:
- Right to Read, PBS documentary
- “The Library Card,” Deb Fallows
*Introduce Research Paper*
Friday
*No class*
Workday.
Assignment due:
- Literacy Narrative due by midnight to Moodle
Week 4: April 17th – 21st
Week
Week 4: April 17th – 21st
Unit Two, cont.: Local illiteracies, Libraries, & Social Justice
Monday
Reading due:
- “The Complicated Role of the Modern Public Library”
- Select news clips from Michigan specific libraries
**Kalamazoo Public Library visit on Tuesday, April 18th 4:30-5:30**
Wednesday
*Mobile Library Van*
Reading due:
- View: Our Towns, HBO
Friday
*Debriefing day*
Reading due:
- “The Bible Didn’t Say So,” Allen
Week 5: April 24th – 28th
Week
Week 5: April 24th – 28th
Unit Three: Weaponizing Literacy
Monday
Reading due:
- Selections from Frederick Douglas
Wednesday
Reading due:
- Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
*Ladies Library Visit Thursday, April 27 at 4:30-5:30*
Friday
*No class*
Workday.
Week 6: May 1 – 5th
Week
Week 6: May 1 – 5th
Unit Five: The Wakes of Illiteracy; Incarceration, Crime, & Illiterate communities
Monday
Reading due:
- Brandon Griggs, “The Illiteracy-to-prison pipeline” TEDx Talk
- Flying Kites
Wednesday
Reading due:
- Flying Kites
Friday
Reading due:
- Flying Kites
- Malcolm X, “Literacy Behind Bars”
Week 7: May 8th – 12th
Week
Week 7: May 8th – 12th
Unit Five: The Wakes of Illiteracy; Health politics
Monday
Reading due:
- Our Bodies Ourselves, The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective
- Feminists: What Were They Thinking (Netflix documentary)
Wednesday
*YWCA Presentation*
Reading due:
- YWCA resource packet
Friday
DOGL
Week 8: May 15th – 19th
Week
Week 8: May 15th – 19th
Unit Six: Threats to literacy; Online & AI
Monday
Reading due:
- Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue”
Assignment due:
- Local Literacies Research paper due by midnight to Moodle
*Introduce Group project*
Wednesday
Reading due:
- “We Asked ChatGPT About Art History,” Ben Davis
- “ChatGPT Sends Shockwaves”
*Class project discussion & group assignments*
Friday
Reading due:
- The Great Hack, Netflix Documentary
Week 9: May 22nd – 26th
Week
Week 9: May 22nd – 26th
Unit Six, cont.: Threats to literacy; Misinformation
Monday
Reading due:
- Strangers in Their Own Land, see Moodle for specifics
- “Mind the Climate Literacy Gap”
Wednesday
Reading due:
- Strangers in Their Own Land, see Moodle for specifics
Friday
Reading due:
- Strangers in Their Own Land, see Moodle for specifics
- Resilient Michigan website video series
Week 10 (May 29th – June 2nd)
Week
Week 10: May 29th – June 2nd
Monday
*No class: Memorial Day*
Wednesday
*In-class Workshop Day*
Bring all your work materials.
Friday
*No class: work on wrapping up final project*
Assignment due:
- Group Project due by midnight to Moodle
Finals Week: June 5th – 9th
Week
Finals Week: June 5th – 9th
Monday
Assignment due:
- Individual reflection essay due by midnight to Moodle