ABSTRACT
This chapter defines writing, literacies, and education in digital cultures as a Bourdieusian field, fundamentally a field of struggles, and explores some of the ideological and practical ramifications of viewing the field as a "field". It looks closely at some of the recent work on critical media literacies, a subfield of the broader field of new literacy studies, trying to understand the field's current "possible" objects of study and make space for new, previously impossible possibles. The promise of critical media literacies, and the generative digital literacies associated with them, is nothing short of more equitable uses of power in the public sphere, a more participatory democratic practice. Media literacy, as measured by the Media Attitudes Questionnaire instrument, was related to lowered risk factors for eating disorders and negative body image. While these studies note limitations, critical media literacies are associated with youth empowerment and greater possibilities for a more participatory democratic sphere.
