New Literacy Studies: A Study of Literacy Practices in Middle Class Youth of Southern Punjab, Multan
Abstract
This article aims at unveiling literacy practices of the middle-class youth of Southern Punjab, Multan in order to assess the nexus between literacy, social class, and culture. The study shows Pakistani youth acquire a range of literacies depending upon the situation they are in. The literacies thus acquired help shaping their outlook and worldview. The most prominent literacies as mentioned by the participants include: academic literacies, family literacies, oral literacies, social media literacies and Islamic literacies. Drawing on Street’s Ideological Model of Literacy ‘literacies’ are explored to evaluate to what extent literacy practices may serve as tools for worldview and ideology formation. This theoretical exploration is complemented with a small-scale survey with ten participants (5 females and 5 males) and two case studies. The case studies address if/to what degree Pakistani youth have appropriated socio-cultural literacy practices to function as self-reflective instruments. Young men and women between 18 to 24 years of age belonging to Southern Punjab, Multan participated in the study. Findings indicate that literacy practices
can – and do – serve as ideology and worldview shaping tool.
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