Rural Working-Class Males in Sweden and Reading: Processes for Re-appropriating Written Culture

Authors

  • Dr. Stig-Börje Asplund Karlstad University
  • Dr. Ivor Goodson

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29585

Abstract

This article explores the intersection of place-based reading practices of rural working-class males and reading practices in school. Life story interviews have been conducted with six men in different ages (age 19-63) living in a rural region in Sweden, focusing on their reflections on their own relation to reading across a life span from the standpoint of the present. The analysis shows that there is a unique combination of factors at work when rural working-class men culturally re-appropriate written culture in ways that are sympathetic, and socially acceptable to a manual working-class culture. These factors include the processes of oralising and manualising and are often related to things learned in specific ancestral heartlands.

Author Biographies

Dr. Stig-Börje Asplund, Karlstad University

Stig-Börje Asplund is Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Studies at Karlstad University in Sweden. He holds a PhD in Educational Work, and his research interest include classroom interaction and life history approaches, with a special focus on processes of identity construction and on rural working-class males’ reading practices in and outside school. His recent research has been published in journals such as the British Journal of Sociology of Education, Gender and Education, and Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Dr. Ivor Goodson

Ivor Goodson has worked in universities in England, Canada and the USA, and held visiting positions in many countries, notably at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Sciences Po - L'Institut d'études politiques (IEP) de Paris and Stanford University. As Professor of Learning Theory at the Education Research Centre at the University of Brighton, UK, he conducted large-scale research projects and currently is International Research Professor at the University of Tallinn, Estonia. Goodson is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Education Policy and he has produced a series of books on qualitative methodologies focusing on life history approaches.

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Published

2022-12-02

How to Cite

Asplund, S.-B., & Goodson, I. (2022). Rural Working-Class Males in Sweden and Reading: Processes for Re-appropriating Written Culture. Language and Literacy, 24(3), 68–87. https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29585

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 3 (2022): Regular Issue

Section

Articles

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