Ordinary Writings Personal Narratives

Historians have often assumed that the lives of the poor and illiterate can never be known because they have left little record of their existence. This book, however, will establish some of the main themes of a new field of historical study: that of 'ordinary writings' - the improvised writings of the poor and the young.

A fascinating account of how ordinary people met the challenges of literacy in modern Europe, as distances between people increased.

Krutch’s trenchant observations about life prospering in the hostile environment of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert turn to weighty questions about humanity and the precariousness of our existence, putting lie to Western denials of mind in the “lower” forms of life: “Let us not say that this animal or even this plant has ‘become adapted’ to desert conditions. Let us say rather that they have all shown courage and ingenuity in making the best of the world as they found it. And let us remember that if to use such terms in connection with them is a fallacy then it can only be somewhat less a fallacy to use the same terms in connection with ourselves.”

Writing is a very complex process that is difficult to teach, learn, and research. Although many students struggle with writing, composing often presents major challenges for students with disabilities. One area of written expression that presents particular difficulties for students with disabilities is motivation. Motivation is a key aspect of written expression that helps all writers complete difficult composing tasks. However, students with disabilities may have more negative motivational patterns and may also be less positive about writing and their ability as writers than their normally achieving peers. Logically, this means that effective writing intervention efforts must not only address how to write but must also articulate methods to increase students’ motivation to write. This book, written for teachers, scholars, and researchers, focuses on the essential issue of helping students learn how to want to write. Each contributing author presents an important theoretical or pedagogical element of writing motivation, for example: The historical beginnings of research in this area Conceptual and methodological advances in the field of motivation to write Developmental trajectories of writing motivation in typical and atypical populations The effect of playful writing tasks on the development of writing ability as well as on motivation to write The impact of writing prompts on motivation How reading motivation relates and supports writing motivation This book was originally published as a special issue of Reading and Writing Quarterly.

In the twenty-first century, everything and everybody seems to be on the move. Global flows of people, goods, food, money, information, services and media images are form an intensely mobile background to everyday life. This book addresses the challenges and opportunities of researching mobile phenomena.

We live in a textually-mediated world where writing is central to society, its cultural practices and institutions. Writing has been the subject of much research but it is usually highly visible and valued texts that are studied -- the work of novelists, poets and scholars. The studies included in this book examine every day acts of writing and their significance. Ordinary quotidian writing may be viewed as mundane and routine, but it is central to how societies operate and the ways individuals relate to each other and to institutions. Examples discussed in the book including writing in areas such as farming, photo-sharing, childcare work and health care. The chapters are united in their approach to examining this writing as cultural practice. The book also brings together two important traditions of this type of study: the Anglophone and Francophone. The work of French scholars in this field is made accessible for the first time to the Anglophone world. The insights and research in this collection will appeal to all linguists, anthropologists, sociolinguistics and cultural theorists.

This book investigates the history of writing as a cultural practice in a variety of contexts and periods. It analyses the rituals and practices determining intimate or ‘ordinary’ writing as well as bureaucratic and religious writing. From the inscribed images of ‘pre-literate’ societies, to the democratization of writing in the modern era, access to writing technology and its public and private uses are examined. In ten studies, presented by leading historians of scribal culture from seven countries, the book investigates the uses of writing in non-alphabetical as well as alphabetical script, in societies ranging from Native America and ancient Korea to modern Europe. The authors emphasise the material characteristics of writing, and in so doing they pose questions about the definition of writing itself. Drawing on expertise in various disciplines, they give an up-to-date account of the current state of knowledge in a field at the forefront of ‘Book History’.

"An uncommon and intimate account of the lives of two conscientious objectors"--