Letter Writing as a Social Practice
Editors
This book explores the social significance of letter writing. Letter writing is one of the most pervasive literate activities in human societies, crossing formal and informal contexts. Letters are a common text type, appearing in a wide variety of forms in most domains of life. More broadly, the importance of letter writing can be seen in that the phenomenon has been widespread historically, being one of earliest forms of writing, and a wide range of contemporary genres have their roots in letters. The writing of a letter is embedded in a particular social situation, and like all other types of literacy objects and events, the activity gains its meaning and significance from being situated in cultural beliefs, values, and practices. This book brings together anthropologists, historians, educators and other social scientists, providing a range of case studies that explore aspects of the socially situated nature of letter writing.
[Studies in Written Language and Literacy, 9] 2000. vi, 262 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 21 October 2008
Published online on 21 October 2008
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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1. IntroductionDavid Barton and Nigel Hall | p. 1
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2. Letters and the Social Grounding of Differentiated GenresCharles Bazerman | p. 15
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3. The Familiar Letter and Social Refinement in America, 1750–1800Konstantin Dierks | p. 31
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4. Letter Writing in a Cornish Community in the 1790sFrances O. Austin | p. 43
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5. English Pauper Letters 1800–34, and the English LanguageTony Fairman | p. 63
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6. The Materiality of Letter Writing: A nineteenth century perspectiveNigel Hall | p. 83
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7. Letter-Writing Instruction in 19th Century Schools in the United StatesLucille M. Schultz | p. 109
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8. Young Children’s Explorations of Letter WritingNigel Hall, Anne Robinson and Leslie Crawford | p. 131
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9. Death Row Penfriends: Some Effects of Letter Writing on Identity and RelationshipsJanet Maybin | p. 151
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10. ‘Absolute Truly Brill to See From You’: Visuality and Prisoners’ LettersAnita Wilson | p.
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11. True Traces: Love Letters and Social Transformation in NepalLaura M. Ahearn | p. 199
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12. Teaching Letters: The Recontextualisation of Letter-Writing Practices in Literacy Classes for Unschooled Adults in South AfricaCatherine Kell | p. 209
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13. Computer-Mediated Communication: The Future of the Letter?Simeon J. Yates | p. 233
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Author biographies | p. 253
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Index of Names | p. 257
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Index of Subjects | p. 259
“Barton and Hall's book is a hallmark example of the New Literacies Studies. A variety of careful studies of letter writing as realized in different local and situated practices illuminates a bevy of important theoretical issues dealing with the history of literacy, cultural change, the development of different genres in science and everyday life, the negotiation and renegotiation of identities, the nature of schools and schooling, new technologies, and the socioculturally variable workings of class, race, ethnicity, and gender.”
James Paul Gee, Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
“Four years ago, when I was developing the reading list for a new course in life writing, I was disappointed and surprised to find that very little research had been published on a practice so ubiquitous and so apparently everyday as writing letters. This book, then, which looks at letter writing and reading across cultures, is a much needed scholarly contribution to the study of written language and social communication. Humble as it may seem, early evidence of the letter form can be identified in all kinds of historical written transactions, including — amazingly — the Magna Carta and the US dollar. This book testifies to the flexibility and significance of letter writing as a social practice and helpfully brings together examinations of older forms of letter writing with contemporary practice including the use of e-mail.”
Dorothy Sheridan, Archivist (University of Sussex)
“The articles selected for inclusion in this book cover a diverse range of topics, representing various cultures and historical eras. However, no matter what particular subject matter is addressed by these authors, a perspective of the letter as a social practice ties all the articles together [...] Taken as a whole, these articles do indeed present a convincing argument that there are social effects of letter writing that are rarely explored in academic literature [...] Given the lack of such research in the past, this book is more than a beginning; it provides a look at the most current and relevant considerations of letters across disciplines, and is a useful addition to the libraries of those who study the social implications of personal communication.”
Jennifer L. Adams, Purdue University in The Review of Communication 2:1, 2002
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Borges, Marcelo J. & Sonia Cancian
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Conde-Silvestre, J. Camilo
2022. Historical sociolinguistics. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 756 ff.
Crane, Cori
Howell, Jessica M.
Tamboukou, Maria
LAMPRECHT, LOGAN M.
Starfield, Jane
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2014. Letters of Artisans and the Labouring Poor (England, c. 1750–1835). In Contact, Variation, and Change in the History of English [Studies in Language Companion Series, 159], ► pp. 187 ff.
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[no author supplied]
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General