Courses in this doctoral core provide students with the opportunity to investigate the contextualized nature of literacy practices and the ways these practices shape, and are shaped by, historical, cultural, social and political contexts in which they occur. Courses within this core will introduce students to the dialectical relationships that exist between local literacies and larger sociopolitical and ideological frameworks, and students will be invited to question and problematize taken for granted assumptions about the educational experiences of students from dominant and parallel cultures.Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.