A Postmodern Literacy Policy Analysis

"This book provides a very insightful and useful analysis of four major literacy discourses of our times. Drawing deftly on Foucault's methodological conception of archeological geneology, Mary Frances Agnello reveals with care and detail how the discourses of human capital literacy, cultural literacy, critical literacy, and feminist literacy proliferated and were transformed between 1968 and 2000. Educators will learn much from reading Agnello's work thoughtfully." (Colin Lankshear, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
"This is an innovative study that looks at literacy through the lens of postmodern theory, particularly that of Michel Foucault, Paulo Freire, and a number of recent feminist critics. Mary Frances Agnello demonstrates how teachers can make a difference in classrooms with the manner in which they allow students to develop their literacy. Her book is an eloquent appeal to develop literacy strategies independent of dominant discourses of cultural literacy." (Robert Boenig, Professor of English, Texas A&M University)