Immigrants, Brokers, and Literacy as Affinity

Drawing on two years of ethnographic research mixed with archival work, Immigrants, Brokers, and Literacy as Affinityexplores literacy’s entanglement in networks of economic and political forces. Ligia A. Mihut proposes and theorizes the figure of the literacy broker, embodied by those who help immigrants with reading and writing as they cross national, cultural, and linguistic borders. Whether these brokers use personal stories, language of empathy, or social connections, they collectively develop an emotional discourse repertoire that Mihut has coined as literacy as affinity. As such, literacy as affinity is explored in various locales where unequal power dynamics may emerge: local communities, schools, libraries, workplaces, or homes. Literacy brokers are intermediaries, advocating for those who, based on their economic, national, or political identity, find themselves reaching for the American dream.

Ligia A. Mihut is associate professor of English at Barry University where she teaches first-year composition and professional writing courses. Her areas of research include immigrant literacies, writing for social justice, ethnography, and transnationalism. As a co-recipient of the 2015-2016 CCCC Research Initiative Award, she is also involved in a comparative study of writing practices in four different countries, Romania, Nepal, India, and Colombia. Her work has been published in CCC, Literacy in Composition Studies, Reflections, and several edited collections.