Networked literacies and agency - an exploration

Networked literacies
& agency: a
(personal)
exploration
By Paul Prinsloo (University of South Africa)
Presentation at
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), University of Cape Town, Thursday 9 April 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The presenter owns the copyright of some of the images in
this presentation (indicated as CC Paul Prinsloo). All other
images have been sourced from Google labeled for non-
commercial reuse.
This work (excluding the images) is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
International License

Overview of the presentation
• Positioning myself
• Literacy/ies in context
• Critical literacy as point of departure
• A personal narrative – the importance of context/field
• Literacy through a social cognitive theory lens
(Bandura)
• Literacy and field theory (Bourdieu)
• Functionings, capabilities, well-being and critical
agency (Sen)
• A personal note on literacy-as-agentic identity as
researcher
• (In)conclusions

Disclaimer: Positioning myself
There are many possible ways to approach and think about the notion of ‘literacy.’
I approach/reflect upon ‘literacy’
• Acknowledging the influence of the work of Zygmunt Bauman, Albert Bandura
and a personal understanding of Actor Network Theory
• From a “critical literacy” perspective (eg Apple, 1992; Bishop, 2014; Behrman,
2006; Lankshear & McClaren, 1993; Morrell, 2004, 2007)
• Work on intersectionality and literacy as critical, situated, “boundary work”
(Bishop, 2014; Budd & Lloyd, 2014; Nicholson, 2014)

What does it mean to be
(il)literate? How do we define
(il)literacy?

What does it mean to be literate and agentic
(literacy-as-networked-agency) when…
Who I am and the literacies and agency I have - were shaped by
• My circumstances, race, gender, context, historical-moment-in-
time?
• My socio-material conditions
• The choices I made
• The choices that were made for me
• Other people – known and unknown
• Material conditions and technologies as actors
• Chance, matterings and happenings?

What does it mean to be literate and agentic
(literacy-as-networked-agency)…

What does it mean to “live a fully human dignified life
[and] what education contributes to this, and how [do] we
assess its contribution?”
(Walker, 2012, p. 384)
What does it mean to be literate (enough?) to make
informed, embodied and entangled choices on a playing
field that is uneven and formed and maintained by socio-
material power relations?

A deluge of literacies
Information literacy
Media literacy
Digital literacy
Cyber
literacy
Information
fluency
Fluencies for a global
digital citizen
Competencies for media and digital literacy
Multiple intelligences
Five minds of the future

And the latest kid on the block - Metaliteracy
(Mackey & Jacobson, 2011)
Image credit: http://metaliteracy.cdlprojects.com/what.htm
Understand format
type and delivery
mode
Evaluate user
feedback as active
researcher
Create a context for
user-generated
information
Evaluate dynamic
content critically
Produce original
content in multiple
media formats
Understand personal
privacy, information
ethics and
intellectual property
issues
Share information in
participatory
environmentsMackey, T.P., & Jacobson, T.E. (2011). Reframing
information literacy as metaliteracy. College &
Research Libraries, 72(1), 62-78.

Our taxonomies and typologies of literacies
depend on our lens…
• The ‘digital age’ (Bawden
2001; Littlejohn, Beetham, &
Mcgill 2012; Knobel &
Lankshear 2007)
• ‘employability’ (Fugate,
Kinicki, & Ashforth 2004)
• ‘sustainability’ (Krosnick et al
2000; Major & Atwood, 2004;
Rowe, 2002; Weingart et al,
2000)
Image credit:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hand_sho
wing_lens_demonstration.jpg

The range of individual autonomy is expanding,
increasingly being “burdened with the functions that
were once viewed as the responsibility of the state”
(Bauman, 2011, p. 16). Individuals are increasingly
faced to respond to socially produced problems…
At no other time has the necessity to make choices
been so deeply felt and has choosing become so
poignantly self-conscious, conducted under
conditions of painful yet incurable uncertainty, of a
constant threat of ‘being left behind’ and of being
excluded from the game, with return barred for
failure to live up to the new demands” (Bauman,
2012, p. 21)
Why do ‘literacies’ (and our lists
and definitions) matter?

http://iderelelibrary.weebly.com/the-true-story-of-the-3-little-
pigs.html
Looking for a centre that holds
“…we no longer possess a
home; we are repeatedly
called upon to build and then
rebuild one, like the three little
pigs of the fairy tale, or we
have to carry it along with us
on our backs like snails”
(Melucci in Bauman, 2012, p. 22)

Lists as Noah’s ark…
Image credit:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Noah%27s_Ark_on_M
ount_Ararat_by_Simon_de_Myle.jpg
Possibly underlying our anxious
search for definitions of
“literacy” is an unease that the
knowledge maps of the past
have, to a large extent, been
proven to be fragile (Barnett,
2000) and (possibly) the
illegitimate offspring of
unsavory liaisons between
ideology, context and
humanity’s gullibility in believing
in promises of unconstrained
scientific progress… (Prinsloo, in
press)
(also seeGray, 2004; 2014).

Literacy has become our hope for creating a
center that holds… As such we experience a
“crisis of proposals and a crisis of utopias”
(Max-Neef, Elizalde, & Hopenhayn, 1991, p. 1)
when “the old is dying and the new cannot be
born” (Gramsci, 1971, p. 110).

• “Literacy is a political
battleground” (Bishop, 2014, p.
51)
• Critical literacy, then, is learning
to read and write as part of the
process of becoming conscious
of one’s experience as
historically constructed within
specific power-relations”
(Anderson & Irvine, 1993, p. 82)
Literacy through a critical lens
Critical consciousness –
“to read the world”

Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactome
I am here…
Beginning date:
unsure
Up to present:
2015
Future?
Understanding literacy as embodied, entangled, relational,
networked, mediated and mediating context-specific
capabilities and choices: A personal journey…

My story of becoming and being
(il)literate*…
1948 – eleven years before I was born, the National Party came
into power
Image credit:
http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/europeans-
only.jpg
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
* Adapted from Prinsloo, O. (2014). Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin : researcher identity
and performance. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10500/14415

[(habitus)(capital)]
1956 – the Bantu Education Act of 1955
"There is no place for [the Bantu] in the
European community above the level of certain
forms of labor ... What is the use of teaching the
Bantu child mathematics when it (sic) cannot use
it in practice?“ (Hendrik Verwoerd, Minister of
Native Affairs)
19
Three years before I was born…

When I was two years old…
Image credit: http://ificould.co.za/human-rights-day-2013-commemorating-
the-sharpeville-massacre/
• 69 Black South
Africans murdered
• 187 people wounded
• African National
Congress and the Pan
Africanist Congress
banned

When was born in 1959 and classified as
“white” and “European”
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
In a town with a siren that
went of at 9 pm at night
after which everyone who
was non-White had to be
outside of the boundaries of
the town.

In 1961 – South Africa became a Republic – with the
majority of its population not being citizens
In 1965 – I started school – two years earlier than Black
children of the same age. White and Black children had
different syllabi – Black children were taught gardening and
music…
From 1966-1971 – 3 million South Africans resettled in
reserves
Copyright: Paul Prinsloo

I matriculated in 1976
… with Soweto
burning with 575
people killed
Image credit: http://kgothatsomanale.blogspot.com/2013/06/soweto-uprising-16-june-1976.html
1976 was also the year my dad
died, and I started to waiter and
be a petrol attendant to make
ends meet…

In 1977 I enrolled …
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_University_of_Pretoria.PNG
As Afrikaans speaker, I had 19 universities to choose (of which six had
Afrikaans as language of tuition) from compared to 2 universities
dedicated to colored students, 2 for the exclusive enrollment of Indian
students and 6 for the exclusive use of Black students…

25
Acknowledging white privilege and the way it shaped my
education and provided me with opportunities is not
surrendering to the notion of victimhood and suffering that is
prevalent in the much of the current white, Afrikaner discourse.
There is a vast difference between recognising the “historic
burden of whiteness” and self-abasement or lame apologies
(O’Hehir, 2014). Personally, it is impossible and disingenuous
to ignore how my race and gender shaped my opportunities,
and provided me with social, cultural and economic capital.
My race and gender, and the socioeconomic circumstances of
my family allowed me to play on a field while many others were
excluded from playing. (Also see Bowler, 2014; Crosley-
Corcoran, 2014; Gedye, 2014)
Prinsloo (2014)

Literacies
Knowledge
Resources
Tools
Capabilities
Capital
Literacy, agency, & structure – two approaches
Choices
Being agentic as an embodied,
entangled, relational, networked,
mediated and mediating context-
specific capability and choice
Theautonomousindividual
Acting and
responding to
the world

Literacy through a social cognitive theory lens
“People do not operate as autonomous agents. Nor is their
behaviour wholly determined by situational influences. Rather,
human functioning is a product of a reciprocal interplay of
intrapersonal, behavioural, and environmental determinants..
This triadic interaction includes the exercise of self-influence as
part of the causal structure” (Bandura, 2006, p. 165; emphasis
added).
Human agency Structural arrangements in
a particular context
Human agency Structural arrangements in a
particular context

Three modes of agency (Bandura, 2006)
Three modes of agency namely individual, proxy and collective.
These three modes do not function separately or independently,
but “everyday functioning requires an agentic blend of these
three forms of agency” (Bandura, 2006, p. 165)
Proxy agency as being required when “people do not have
direct control over conditions that affect their lives… They do so
by influencing others who have the resources, knowledge, and
means to act on their behalf to secure the outcomes they
desire” (Bandura, p. 165; emphasis added)

Individual agency in fluid times…
“Given that individuals are producers as well as products of
their life circumstances, they are partial authors of the past
conditions that developed them, as well as the future courses
their lives take” (p. 165).
Agentic management of fortuity - “People are often
inaugurated into new life trajectories, marriages, and careers
through fortuitous circumstances” (p. 166)
“They can make chance happen by pursuing an active life that
increases the number and type of fortuitous encounters they
will experience” (p. 166)

Image credit: http://www.allstaractivities.com/images/soccer-positions.gif
In order to be literate/ a player in the 21st century I need
to understand the field, the game, and my position, and
my skills
• Boundaried site
• Players have set/
predetermined positions
• Rules are predetermined
• Written and unwritten
rules
• Players have different
skills
• What players can do is
determined by their
position on the field
• The physical condition of
the field impacts play

CAPITAL:
What type of “capital” I
have or don’t have
• Economic
• Cultural
• Social
• Symbolic
HABITUS: Who and how my
past shaped/shapes me:
• Genetic makeup
• Gender
• Race
• Socio-economic circumstances
• Parental background
• Geopolitical location
• Educational experiences
• Health
• The choices I made in the past…
• My dispositions
• Etc.
These are durable and transposable
(Maton, 2012)
In order to be literate in a networked and (un)flat world I
need to know…
THE FIELD:
How does the field in which I
find myself in, shape me?
What/who shapes the field?
Who are the (other) players in
the field:
• Who are they?
• How come they are
shapers?
• What are the rules?
• Who are the referees?
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_soccer

Looking at metaliteracy from a field theory (Bourdieu)
perspective
The “field” is not a benign, pastoral space, but rather le champ – a battle
field, where players have set positions, predetermined paces, specific
rules which novice players must learn together with basic skills.
“What players can do, and where they can go during the game, depends
on their field position. The actual physical condition of the field (whether
it is wet, dry, well grassed or full of potholes), also has an effect on what
players can do and this how the game is played” (Thompson, 2012, p. 66)
[(habitus)(capital)] + field = practice/agency
(Maton, 2012, p. 50)

A field theory perspective on agency
My dispositions - how my
past and present (and my
understanding thereof)
shaped and still shape me
The capital that I have
acquired in the process
(or not)
The field – the
context in which I
find myself in. This
is not a neutral
space, but is, itself,
shaped by various
structures, and
agencies of
individuals and
collectives
My practice/agency and my
understanding thereof…
We are not “pre-programmed automatons acting out the
implications of our upbringings” (Maton, 2012, p. 50).

Functionings:
Things over which I
have command –
literacies, skills,
shaped by choice,
habitus, context,
need
Capabilities:
A selection of
functionalities in a
particular context,
need
Well-being:
Being able to
make choices (in
recognition that
choices are
constrained by
others, values
and context)
Critical agency:
The freedom to act
but also the
freedom to
question and
reassess
A personal understanding: Literacies, agency,
well-being – Amartya Sen

Functionings:
Things over which I
have command –
literacies, skills,
shaped by choice,
habitus, context,
need
Capabilities:
A selection of
functionalities in a
particular context,
need
Well-being:
Being able to
make choices (in
recognition that
choices are
constrained by
others, values
and context)
Critical agency:
The freedom to act
but also the
freedom to
question and
reassess
A personal understanding: Literacies…

Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactome
I am here…
Beginning date:
unsure
Up to present:
2015
Understanding my researcher literacy as embodied, entangled,
relational, networked, mediated and mediating context-specific
capabilities and choices: A personal journey…

Understanding the field of
becoming and being a researcher
1.The broader higher education context
2.The move to digital and networked
identities
3.The (changing) rules of performing
research
37

The field: The broader higher education context

Image credit: http://www.socialmediasmarketing.com/
The field: The move to digital and networked identities
I am (somewhere)
here…

Networked literacies and agency - an exploration

The field: The rules of performing
research
• The Unisa context
• My performance agreement
• Other rules:
Not all journals are created equal
Concerns about the quality in ‘A’ rated
journals
The minefield of choosing a journal
Breaking into the global North…

Understanding the field of becoming and being a
researcher: [(habitus)(capital)] + field = agency

Agentic researcher identity &
as plural, dynamic construct…
Researcher
identity
How we
measure/what we
value and who
values…
Age
Home
language
Researcher
performanceRace
Gender
Researcher identity
as performance
Location
Health
Culture

THANK YOU
Paul Prinsloo (Prof)
Research Professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL)
College of Economic and Management Sciences, Office number 3-15, Club 1, Hazelwood, P O Box 392
Unisa, 0003, Republic of South Africa
T: +27 (0) 12 433 4719 (office)
T: +27 (0) 82 3954 113 (mobile)
prinsp@unisa.ac.za
Skype: paul.prinsloo59
Personal blog: http://opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.com
Twitter profile: @14prinsp

Networked literacies and agency - an exploration

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