Core Claim
Literacy is not a neutral, universal skill but a social practice embedded in specific cultural, historical, and institutional contexts. What counts as "being literate" depends on the where—whether in classrooms, workplaces, online spaces, or community activism.
This means both literacy and anti-racism are deeply situated. They are not just about knowledge, skills, and practices but also about the contexts, spaces, and power structures in which they are enacted.
Theoretical Foundation: New Literacy Studies
New Literacy Studies (NLS), developed by scholars like Brian Street (1984) and James Paul Gee (1996), rejects the "autonomous model" of literacy—the idea that reading and writing are context-free cognitive skills. Instead, NLS emphasizes literacy as:
- Ideological: Always embedded in relations of power
- Multiple: Different literacies for different contexts and communities
- Situated: Meaning-making is tied to place, culture, and social position
Digital literacy, for instance, takes on different meanings in:
- A coding boot camp
- A grassroots activist group
- A TikTok creator's media production
- A K-12 classroom
The shift from "digital literacy" (singular) to "digital literacies" (plural) reflects this evolution—recognizing diverse cultural and contextual practices (Lankshear & Knobel, 2008).
Dimensions of Digital Literacy
Digital literacies span multiple interconnected dimensions:
| Dimension | Focus |
|---|---|
| Technical | Operational skills, device fluency, file management |
| Cognitive | Evaluation, meaning-making, source credibility |
| Social-Emotional | Ethics, identity formation, empathy in digital spaces |
| Critical Consciousness | Awareness of power dynamics, algorithmic bias, representation |
Each dimension shapes how individuals interact with digital technologies and navigate their implications for society.
Anti-Racism as Situated Action
Anti-racism is not a set of abstract principles but a situated struggle that plays out differently across spaces—schools, workplaces, online platforms, legal systems, everyday interactions.
Structural racism operates differently across these contexts, shaping:
- Who has access to knowledge and resources
- Who has platforms for resistance
- Whose voices are amplified or silenced
Examples of situated anti-racist digital literacy:
- In journalism: Debunking misinformation
- In education: Decolonizing curricula, critiquing racial bias in AI
- In activism: Building coalitions, amplifying marginalized voices
Digital Literacies and the "Where"
In digital spaces, the "where" is particularly crucial. Algorithms, platform policies, and community norms shape:
- What information circulates
- Whose voices are amplified or silenced
- How knowledge is produced and shared
The same digital tool—Twitter, for example—can serve as both:
- A site of racial harassment
- A platform for social justice activism
The difference is context.
Intersectionality and Digital Participation
Intersectionality is central to understanding digital literacy. Individual characteristics—gender, sexual orientation, racial identity, socioeconomic status—cannot be separated from participation in society (Choi & Cristol, 2021).
The intersection of identities in relation to power structures influences:
- Access to technology
- Representation in digital spaces
- Ability to engage in digital discourse
Identity and literacy practices are not one-size-fits-all.
These intersections are further examined through lenses including:
- Socioemotional learning (Beard et al., 2021)
- Critical race theory in education (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995)
- Racial literacy (Skerrett, 2011)
- Anti-racist perspectives (Kohli et al., 2017)
Key Terms for Research (Glossary)
Access
The ability and opportunity to obtain, retrieve, and engage with information and resources. Access encompasses physical and digital means, including technological infrastructure. Access is fundamental to equitable participation—enabling critical engagement with diverse sources.
Mode
The distinct channels, formats, or mediums through which information is transmitted: textual, visual, auditory, interactive. Understanding modes involves recognizing how different communication strategies impact meaning-making.
Medium
The specific tools, platforms, and technologies used to transmit information—print, broadcast, digital, interactive. Understanding mediums means recognizing characteristics and affordances of different technologies.
Affordances
The inherent capabilities and potential actions that technologies offer. Affordances shape individuals' abilities to navigate, interpret, and create content. Critical literacy includes recognizing both what platforms enable and constrain.
Attention
The cognitive focus individuals allocate to information stimuli. In the attention economy, driven by algorithms and personalized delivery, understanding how attention is captured and directed is essential for critical literacy.
Porosity
The degree of openness between information environments, allowing fluid exchange of ideas across platforms and contexts. Porosity reflects how individuals traverse multiple sources and cultural contexts.
Bridging the Situated and the Structural
Understanding literacy and anti-racism as situated practices means recognizing that place matters—not just physical places, but digital, institutional, and ideological spaces.
This perspective pushes educators and activists to move beyond skill-building to interrogating the environments that shape how knowledge, power, and identity function in society.
What This Means for Practice
- Digital literacy education is not static—it's a continually evolving set of competencies requiring lifelong learning
- Just as anti-racism is ongoing process rather than final destination, digital literacy requires persistent inquiry, adaptation, and capacity-building
- What it means to be digitally literate today may look vastly different in a few years
Open Questions
- How do we teach situated literacy practices without reducing them to decontextualized skills?
- How do platform architectures constrain or enable anti-racist practice?
- What does it mean to be "literate" in spaces governed by algorithms we cannot see?
- How do we prepare learners for literacies that don't yet exist?
Key Formulations (Preserve These)
"Literacy is not a neutral, universal skill but a social practice embedded in specific cultural, historical, and institutional contexts."
"What counts as 'being literate' depends on the where."
"The same digital tool can serve as both a site of racial harassment and a platform for social justice activism, depending on the context."
"Understanding literacy and anti-racism as situated practices means recognizing that place matters—not just physical places, but digital, institutional, and ideological spaces."
"Identity and literacy practices are not one-size-fits-all."