Abstract
This reflective article examines how academic literacy is aligned
with social justice as an educational project, focusing on
facilitating smoother and more relevant pathways for students
to engage and persist in university settings, thereby enabling
their participation in academic written culture. This reflection
is rooted in our qualitative and ethnographic research
and emphasizes the following argumentative lines: 1) the
democratization of higher education in Latin America remains
a challenge despite inclusive policies; 2) academic literacy
advocates for a departure from deficit-based perspectives
regarding access to literate practices; 3) social justice is
integral to the agenda of academic literacy studies. Empirical
studies are presented to illustrate the ways in which the field
of academic literacy identifies hegemonic literate practices,
vernacular forms of appropriation of written culture, and the
tensions that arise between them. The article addresses these
dynamics while acknowledging the strategies of resistance and
re-existence employed by social actors. The conclusion reflects
on the implications of these considerations for the dimensions
of teaching, research, and institutional frameworks.
with social justice as an educational project, focusing on
facilitating smoother and more relevant pathways for students
to engage and persist in university settings, thereby enabling
their participation in academic written culture. This reflection
is rooted in our qualitative and ethnographic research
and emphasizes the following argumentative lines: 1) the
democratization of higher education in Latin America remains
a challenge despite inclusive policies; 2) academic literacy
advocates for a departure from deficit-based perspectives
regarding access to literate practices; 3) social justice is
integral to the agenda of academic literacy studies. Empirical
studies are presented to illustrate the ways in which the field
of academic literacy identifies hegemonic literate practices,
vernacular forms of appropriation of written culture, and the
tensions that arise between them. The article addresses these
dynamics while acknowledging the strategies of resistance and
re-existence employed by social actors. The conclusion reflects
on the implications of these considerations for the dimensions
of teaching, research, and institutional frameworks.
| Translated title of the contribution | Social Justice and Written Culture: Reflections from Higher Education |
|---|---|
| Original language | Spanish |
| Article number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-23 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Magis |
| Volume | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 01 Jan 2025 |
Keywords
- Social inequality
- social justice
- language instruction
- literacy
- higher education
