An Evening with Ligia A. Mihut

Join us for an evening with author Ligia A. Mihut to discuss her book, IMMIGRANTS, BROKERS, AND LITERACY AS AFFINITY.
About this Event

Presented in partnership with UM Center for the Humanities.

🎟 This event is FREE and open to the public, and books will be available for purchase the night of the event! An RSVP grants general entry, but seating is not guaranteed, so please try to show up early. Please RSVP only if you intend to join us. Can't make the event?

About The Book

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.

About The Author

Ligia A. Mihut (mee-hootz) is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Writing Studies and faculty in the Innovation and Society co-major. Ligia received her PhD in English (Writing Studies) from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her areas of research include transnational literacies, community-based research, emergent technologies, and emotion studies. Her ethnographic book, Immigrants, Brokers, and Literacy as Affinity features the power of storytelling and empathy of Romanian immigrants in pursuit of the American Dream. Ligia has also published in College Composition and Communication, Literacy in Composition Studies, Reflections, and several edited collections.