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Literacies and Ethnolinguistic Diversity: Chicago

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Encyclopedia of Language and Education

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Introduction

Chicago, in many ways an archetypal U.S. city, has become a global city, closely linked to other places in the world economically, culturally, and linguistically. Chicago has always had links to other places in the world through its large immigrant populations, but the rapid pace of recent globalization processes has intensified these connections. Globalization, however, yields pressures that move in two directions that have implications for literacy. Increased transnational communication, especially via mass media like satellite television, facilitates the development of a global monoculture, e.g., among youth worldwide who emulate African American musical and verbal style, thus spreading English literacy in the form of song lyrics. Yet global movements toward sameness are complemented by the marked differentiation of ethnic, class and other identities at local levels. Research in a variety of Chicago communities (Farr, 2004, 2005c), for example, has shown the resilience...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ohio State University, Columbus, USA

    Marcia Farr

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  1. Marcia Farr
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, 19104-6216, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Nancy H. Hornberger

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Farr, M. (2008). Literacies and Ethnolinguistic Diversity: Chicago. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_50

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_50

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32875-1

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