Paradigmatic borderlands

DB writes: I had a very interesting time in Norway at the University of Stavanger, where they have developed a postgraduate programme in Literacy Studies. They are using the framework of literacy as a social practice to bring together diverse traditions including medieval dialectology, media studies, early childhood education, expertise research, second language literacy, national writing tests, music in people’s lives and much more. I was struck by how someone working on pre-colonial writing in Madagascar had a common language for talking to someone working on medieval medical prose. They said they are working in the paradigmatic borderlands and I liked the claim that ‘Literacy Studies is one of the few examples of interdisciplinary studies which really works’.