University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2013 Emissaries of Literacy: Refugee Studies and Transnational Composition Michael T. MacDonald University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation MacDonald, Michael T., "Emissaries of Literacy: Refugee Studies and Transnational Composition" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 133. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/133 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. EMISSARIES OF LITERACY: REFUGEE STUDIES AND TRANSNATIONAL COMPOSITION by Michael T. MacDonald A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2013 ABSTRACT EMISSARIES OF LITERACY: REFUGEE STUDIES AND TRANSNATIONAL COMPOSITION by Michael T. MacDonald Under the Supervision of Professor Alice Gillam “Emissaries of Literacy: Refugee Studies and Transnational Composition” uses qualitative research in refugee communities and textual analysis of stories written by and about refugees to argue that the experiences of resettled refugees, as well as the experiences of the volunteers, aid workers, tutors, and teachers who work with them, do not fit neatly within composition’s current paradigms for studying literacy in global contexts. Refugee identity and experience shows a complex link between literacy and citizenship which is complicated by the economic and geographic histories of linguistic imperialism.