Anthropological Approaches to Reading

An anthropological orientation to the study of reading, focuses on the different contents and functions of reading activity in different contexts. The course, adopts interdisciplinary perspectives and deals with modern meanings of reading in everyday life. It focuses on the ways people make sense of their relationship with books. At the same time, the aim of the course is to give a scientific and critical perspective to the common perceptions for reading. This broader dimension of reading, contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors that shape readers from preschool age.
Specifically, the course highlights:
• historical-cultural aspects of reading
• physical dimensions of reading
• reading as an individual activity- identity and reading
• reading as a social activity, sociability around reading
• forms of reading, dominant reading practices
• gender dimensions in reading
• places and spaces of reading.