Immigrants, Brokers, and Literacy as Affinity

Drawing on two years of ethnographic research mixed with archival work, Immigrants, Brokers, and Literacy as Affinity explores literacy's entanglement in networks of economic and political forces. Ligia A. Mihut proposes and theorizes the figure of the literacy broker, embodied by those who help immigrants with reading and writing as they cross national, cultural, and linguistic borders. Whether these brokers use personal stories, language of empathy, or social connections, they collectively develop an emotional discourse repertoire that Mihut has coined as literacy as affinity. As such, literacy as affinity is explored in various locales where unequal power dynamics may emerge: local communities, schools, libraries, workplaces, or homes. Literacy brokers are intermediaries, advocating for those who, based on their economic, national, or political identity, find themselves reaching for the American dream.