Final Thoughts

In lieu of a conclusion (for I hope that this project will serve to open up new avenues for discussion rather than offering closure to topics [that I see in dire need of further thought and exploration]), I hope to raise questions of what considerations of the religious dimensions of literacy can offer for explorations of literacy and composing, particularly questions of digital, diverse/culturally situated, identity-connected and [multi]mediated literacies [fine-tune]. Deans has begun this work with an emphasis on institutional religious narratives as source material for learning about literacy, and I hope to make a similar move with vernacular literacy narratives as well. I suggest that vernacular religious literacy narratives such as those in the DALN and elsewhere have much to teach us as composition/literacy/digital media scholars and teachers about how to incorporate religious voices into the classroom, not as obstacles but rather as allies working toward a common cause of communication and making. Through these literacy narratives, we can learn about soul as “technology” (Plate), about religion as a source of creative artistry and making (Primiano), and about spirituality as deeply grounded in the body (Vasquez). [talk about each of the case studies in these terms]

From Anonymous we learn to grapple with discussions of literacy that frame communication via the spirit as an additional layer with written and spoken texts—not necessarily from a perspective of belief, but from a vernacular religious literacy perspective that takes seriously how this understanding of literacy is a way of making meaning in her own life. From Lauren’s connection of digital media composing with Old Testament notions of creation and destruction, we learn how can these creation stories (and those from other traditions), especially perhaps those that emphasize creation through spoken acts, offer interesting frames for thinking about our own creative work (and perhaps its destructive elements as well). From Charissa we see her impulse to see connections rather than divisions between religious traditions, both in terms of appreciation and critique, and from her choice of a particular embodied experience of religiously development that allows dispersion through her daily life. From Elizabeth, whose literacy narrative directly challenges any sort of divisions between embodied and spiritual literacies and instead insists that in her own experience, we find a frame for seeing the two as absolutely inseparable. These (vernacular) religious ways of knowing, making, and communicating teach us as scholars about (embodied material) mediated literacies in a uniquely culturally situated way that embraces diverse voices and ways of knowing/making knowledge.

This assignment has attempted to enact one answer in terms of theory, pedagogy, and methodology. From these brief narratives, it seems there is much to learn from investigating religious dimensions of literacy. I hope that this project provides one step forward for making space for these religiously inflected voices in composing classroom spaces (both through the DALN and in our seats), not only to honor our students in their diverse totality and complex ways of knowing, but also to learn what they have to say [about embodied literacies across media].