1 literacies

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;this'.~h~p'~er; Everything you write, from how you write it to what you think of saying or
whilfer,you say it at all, is autobiographical. That is, ali of your past experiences inform
YOl!f10rit'ingand your identity as a writer and as a literate person.
':i':~~.e~f0reyou begin reading, take a few minutes to consider how you became the liter-
fate' person you are today, No two people have exactly the same literacies, and yours are
~.:p:(Uliar to your own personal history-your family, YOlJ rgeographic location, your culture,
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.\ your hobbies,your religious training, your schooling, and so on, Consider, for example, the
" '.:':;'f:~I~YVingquestions: r,r~A'o~~Ou ao .& -
- V . ' . When and how did you learn to read?
#: What did you read?
,., Were there things you were not allowed to read?
Where did you first or most memorably encounter texts as a child-for example, at
'. home, at school, at a church or synagogue, at daycare, at a friend's or relative'Shouse?
'.,. ".' Did you write or draw as a child? Was this encouraged or discouraged?
,:~~; , '"
,,,,threshold concept this chapter addresses is that your experiences have shaped your
practices=both what they are, and what they are not-so your answers will not be
as other people's. Ail of us were shaped by what Deborah Brandt, whose work
read shortly, calls literacy sponsors-people, ideas, or institutions who helped us
literate, but literate in specific ways. If you attended private school instead of pub-
. 'lic school, for example, what were you exposed to and what literate experiences did you
not havethat public school kids might have had?
As you reflect on your own experiences, consider both the texts you were exposed to
and those you were not exposed to, or the ones that you were explicitly denied. When you
learned to write, what motivated you to want to write? Who helped you-or didn't? What
kinds of things did you write, and for whom? As you grew older, did your interest in writing
, change? What factors impacted those changes-friends? teachers? parents? new hobbies?
This brief reflection on your literacy'history should illustrate the point we are trying to
make: You are a literate person, and you are an expert on your own literacy practices and
history. You come to this chapter knowing a lot, and through the readings and activities
you'll find here, we hope to help you uncover more of what you know, in addition to learn?
ing some things that you did not know before. We hope you will be able to seeyour past
experiences living in your current experiences, and draw on them in creative and useful
ways. We hope you will consciously consider what it means to be literate, what it means to
read and write, and by so doing broaden your understandings in new ways.
Chapter Go als
To understand the concepts of literacy and multiple literacies
To acquire additional vocabulary for talking about yourself as a writer and reader
To come to greater awareness of the forces that have shaped you as a writer and
reader
To understand ways of conducting contributive research and writing about literacy
that can be shared with an audience
Tostrengthen your ability to read complex, research-based texts more confidently
To gain experience writing from readings and citing sources
Spo nso rs o f Li teracy
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DEBORAH BRANDT
Brandt, Deborah. "Sponsors of Literacy. " College Composition and Com-
munication 49. 2 (1998): 165- 85. Print.
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Deborah Brandt is a professor in the Department of Englishat the University of Wisconsin- .
Madison. She has written several books about literacy, including Literacy as Involvement:
The Acts of Writers, Readers and Texts (Southern Illinois University Press, 1990); Literacy in
American Lives (Cambridge University Press, 2001); and Literacy and Learning: Reading,
Writing, Society (J essey-Bass,2009). She has also written a number of scholarly research
articles about literacy, including the one you are about to read here, "Sponsors of Literacy,"
which describes some of the data she collected when writing Literacy in American Lives. In
that book, Brandt examined the yvay literacy learning changed betWeen 1895 and 1985,
noting that literacy standards have risen dramatically. In "Sponsors of Literacy" she dis-
cussesthe forces that shape our literacy learning and practices.
Brandt's breakthrough idea in this piece is that people don't become literate on their
own; rather, literacy issponsored by people, institutions, and circumstances that both make
it possible for a person to become literate and shape the way the person actually acquires
literacy, In interviewing a stunningly large number of people from all ages and walks of life,
Brandt began recognizing these literacy sponsors everywhere, and thus her article here (and
the book that the same researchled to) is crammed with examples of them, ranging from
older siblings to auto manufacturers and World War II.
While we think of the term sponsor as suggesting support or assistance, Brandt doesn't
confine her discussion to the supportive aspects of literacy sponsors. Her research shows
ways in which, while opening some doors, literacy sponsors may close others. Literacy
sponsors are not always (or even, perhaps, usually) altruistic-they have self-interested
reasons for sponsoring literacy, and very often only some kinds of literacy will support their
goals. (If you've ever wondered why schools encourage you to read,
but seem less than thrilled if you'd rather read the Twilight series
than Ernest Hemingway, Brandt's explanation of literacy sponsorship
may provide an answer.) Brandt also discussescases where people
"misappropriate" a literacy sponsor's intentions by using a particular
literacy for their own ends rather than for the sponsor's.
Brandt's portrayal of the tension between people and their literacy
sponsors illustrates one more important point in thinking about lit-
eracy acquisition and how each of us has become literate. We claim
Frami ng the Readi ng
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