ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a chronological discussion of a history of language and literacy ethnographies as they have emerged in North America and the UK. It outlines the salient features of the study of literacy and language ethnographies and the salient scholars in the field. The field of “Linguistic Ethnography” can also be traced, particularly in the UK through the work of Karin Tusting, Janet Maybin and Ben Rampton in combining fine-grained ethnographic work on language and interaction with an understanding of context. As noted, research in the field of language and literacy research initially focused more on texts, practices, scripts and discourses. Where language ethnographies began is often linked to the work of Shirley Brice Heath in “Ways with Words”. Del Hymes worked within the tradition of “ethnography as an approach, linguistics as a field and narrative as a human accomplishment”. Ethnography is the situating discipline that underpins New Literacy Studies and Linguistic Ethnography.
