Rural men’s and boys’ literacies: Beyond deficit discourses

We are literacy researchers whose work focusses on rural geographies. In this scholarly dialogue we draw on our research and on the limited literature on rural men’s and boys’ literacies. We argue that three intersecting conceptual spaces which are often constructed in and through educational deficit discourses about masculinity, literacy and rurality, which we think should be both pluralised and understood relationally. We suggest that a rural literacies approach that challenges deficit discourses is critical to address nested problems of uneven gendered and geographic educational performance, understanding rural males’ reading practices, rural-regional economic and social development, and chronic problems that stem from the marginalisation of rural citizens and places.