Artifactual Critical Literacy: A New Perspective for Literacy Education

Abstract

In this article, we propose a framework for literacy education, called artifactual critical literacy, which unites a material cultural studies approach together with critical literacy education. Critical literacy is a field that addresses imbalances of power and, in particular, pays attention to the voices of those who are less frequently heard. When critical literacy education is joined with a material cultural studies approach, which holds that cultural “stuff” (Miller, 2010) matters as a form of expression and also as embedded cultural practice, literacy practices such as hip hop and vernacular literacies are then given more attention alongside canonical texts. Stories connected to objects and home experience can provide a platform and starting point for text-making. Text-making can also be set within a framework that is multimodal and allows for a much wider concept of meaning making. In this article wecombine practical examples with a new theoretical framework that brings these traditions together.