Reconfiguring the Sanctions of Schooled Literacy Through Living Literacies

Abstract In this article, the author argues that living literacies—relational, embodied forms of literacy engagement—are an integral component of literacy engagement and hold the potential to disrupt and reconfigure the power structures embedded within schooled literacy. Drawing on affect theory and rhizomatic theory, the author analyzes youths’ literacy engagement in a seventh‐grade English Language Arts and Reading classroom in a New York City public school. This research addresses how schooled literacy, constructed through a sanctioned educational system, potentially dehumanizes students who diverge from the idealized curricular norm, while a focus on living literacies challenges these limitations. Central to this study is the rhizomatic approach of tracing and mapping to analyze the complexities between imposed schooled literacy engagement and living literacies engagement. The author presents findings through two sections: (1) an analysis of the sanctioning power of schooled literacy and (2) an analysis of living literacies through youths’ in‐class literate engagement. Findings demonstrate how schooled literacy practices become normalized and sanction what types of literacy engagement are valued in the classroom—and, therefore, transfer value to students themselves. However, by mapping assemblaging moments of living literacies, including socially charged interactions and spontaneous peer assistance, findings provide insight into how embodied, interrelational forms of literacy engagement offer opportunities for reconfiguring the sanctions of schooled literacy. The author concludes by discussing implications for policy, practice, and research, advocating for a shift toward more humanizing, interrelational, and embodied forms of literacy engagement in school spaces.