Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Apr 2011 Open Access

“Found” Literacy Partnerships: Service and Activism at Spelman College

Zandra L. Jordan

Abstract

This article discusses found literacy partnerships—collaborations around literacy practices that emerge unexpectedly when Spelman College students enact the spirit of service and activism that has defined the historically black liberal arts college for women since its inception. Through an examination of institutional rhetoric, a required general education course and three student cases, the article considers the relationship between doing and becoming as students’ literacies align with the interests of community agencies. Literacy partnerships are not always planned; they can emerge from a spirit of service and commitment to activism that encourages students not just to do service, but to become, through their doing, civic-minded women who use their literacies to promote positive social change.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2011-04-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv10i2pp38-62
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Open Access
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Topics
rhetorical criticism literacy studies community literacy
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