Multiple Literacies Theory: A Deleuzian perspective

Multiple Literacies Theory: A Deleuzian Perspective, edited by Diana Masny and David R. Cole, strives to show what Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT), or ‘reading, reading the world, and self,’ can offer education. Drawing on this conceptualization of literacies, each contributor unsettles, or deterritorializes, the dominant discourses of education that seek to regulate and control learning. Together, the chapters in this collection prompt a ‘paradigm shift for literacy educators’ (p. 189) by focusing on the unpredictability of literacies that ‘progress in non-linear fashions’ (p. 15). The book is structured around three framing chapters that help clarify MLT, Deleuzian concepts, and the intentions of this book. Masny and Cole recognize that literacy is a complex construct. Chapter 1 sets the tone of the book by reminding readers that ‘literacy has itself gone beyond simple definition’ (p. 3). Emphasizing the nuances of different literacy theories, Masny and Cole begin by distinguishing MLT from multiliteracies and New Literacies. The remaining ten chapters each situate MLT and Deleuzian concepts, such as becoming, deterritorialization, desire, and affect, within the applied context of research projects. Thus, each subsequent chapter re-reads MLT and disrupts literacy education through a Deleuzian lens. Four chapters look at language and skill acquisition in the context of the elementary school classroom. In Chapter 2, Diana Masny explores a child’s use of multiple language writing systems. In Chapter 3, Megan Watkins focuses on habit and bodily literacy, using learning to write as an example. In Chapter 4, Linda Knight highlights the importance of ‘drawing as a thinking and communication tool’ (p. 51), arguing that drawing and visual literacies are under-represented in curricula. In Chapter 8, Thérèse Dufresne explores the tensions between multiple language systems in a classroom. Similar to Masny, Dufresne wants to see how teachers can work with, rather than against, these differences. The stories and experiences of two Grade 1 children, Mathieu and Andrew, come to life in this chapter, similar to those of Masny (with Estrella) in Chapter 2 and Waterhouse (with Tuzi) in Chapter 10. Dufresne asserts, ‘If teachers knew more about the literacy background of their students, they might be able to better respond to their needs, individualize their instruction and become more effective teachers’ (p. 115). Continuing this notion of disrupting schooling and the traditional classroom, in Chapter 5, David R. Cole discusses using affective literacies to enhance teaching literature at the secondary level. In Chapter 7, Inna Semetsky promotes ecoliteracy in ‘learning communities both within and without schools’ (p. 93), drawing attention to our roles within ‘the context of a broad, yet interconnected, community’ (p. 93). Semetsky is interested in the process of becoming-ethical, highlighting the importance of values in education. In Chapter 6, Anna Hickey-Moody and Robert Haworth present three vignettes of youth counter-culture as alternative sites for learning. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education Vol. 33, No. 1, February 2012, 163 166