Chelsea Sather

Nancy Roche
Writing 1010-018
9 October 2014
Looking Glass of Literacy
The mischievous role that literacy plays in an individuals life is brilliantly put
into light through David Barton and Mary Hamiltons Literacy Practices where each
aspect that literacy has in ones life is eloquently demonstrated. To understand how much
of an impact that literacy has on an individual you must follow the complex ways of how
literacy shapes each individuals life. Literacy practices are culturally constructed, and,
like all cultural phenomena, they have their roots in the past. To understand
contemporary literacy it is necessary to document the ways in which literacy is
historically situated: literacy practices are as fluid, dynamic, and changing as the lives
and societies of which they are a part (Barton Hamilton 13) Using this definition as a
basis of the ever changing world of literacy practices to analyze its purpose.
Domains, and the discourse communities associated with them, are not clearcut, however: there are questions of the permeability of boundaries, or leakages and
movement between boundaries, and of overlap between domains (Barton Hamilton 11).
Barton and Hamilton through the use of their explanation bring up the thought of literacy
practices being more than just the reading and writing practices of the domain they are set
in but a way that the members of a certain domain conduct themselves. For example
social institutions such as schools belong to a domain and often have an influential

discourse in the way the group of individuals uses the language inside and outside of this
particular domain. Many people will tell you that the way that they conduct themselves at
work compared to how they conduct themselves at home is very different and this is a
prime example of how your literacy practices change when you alter what domain you
are in and therefore the discourse you use.
As changes happen in society they happen in a direct relation to changes in
literacy. As shown by Barton and Hamilton with social domains literacy can vary in how
it is used and in how you communicate in different domains and the domain or domains
in which you belong to is taught through exposure, this being how you learn to belong in
a domain. Literacy becomes a community resource, realized in social relationships
rather than a property of individuals (Barton Hamilton 13). This belief being that
literacy communities rely on the relations with others rather than an individual, this
shows the heavy impact that the society you grow up in can have on your knowledge of
the difference literacy practices.
An interesting point brought up within Barton and Hamiltons Literacy
Practices is that literacy events and practices are the foundation of literacy, stating that
literacy events are defined by the practices in which you are taught through your life and
history. This illustrates that literacy practices shape literacy events, which can be defined
by Barton and Hamilton as activities in which literacy plays a role. This statement makes
an apparent claim that through your knowledge of what practices your parents and those
around you engage themselves in that you will be a part of. Therefore stating that your
exposure to literacy will be shaped through the relations that you have with others, you
are born into a literacy competence.

Literacy plays a role in everyones life, possibly even many different roles. The
literacys in which you acquire all are categorized into domains and often many domains
that overlap although some may be more influential than others. The domains then
become the stage for the events and practice of literacy using the context and texts to sort
out the situation at hand. This idea that literacy is not just taught through learning to read
and write but through social relations with others is an interesting and thought provoking
idea which Barton and Hamilton support a strong claim for.