Adult literacy; non-formal education; language policy; ‘alternative' models of education. South Asia (Bangladesh and Nepal).

My research focuses on the contribution of ethnographic investigation into the social uses of literacy, and wider processes of educational inequality and opportunity.  I have conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Bangladesh and Nepal, and more recently in Mongolia.  My research also involves a commitment to inter-disciplinary collaboration with colleagues (combining ethnographic, economic, and psychometric approaches) to investigate themes such as distributional inequalities and large-scale literacy assessment.   

Some highlights of recent research include;

• Application of a social practice model of literacy in economics
• An ethnographic study of large-scale literacy assessment in Mongolia
• An innovative theory and model of functional literacy thresholds and sufficiency
• A study of literacy inequalities and mediation across caste groups in Nepal
• Investigation of the digital literacies of Bangladeshi fishing communities

I have on-going advisory roles with UNESCO including the UNESCO Institute for Statistics ‘Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme’ (LAMP).  I am on the Editorial Review Board of Reading Research Quarterly.



Photograph: Bryan Maddox (UEA), with Shreshna Basnet, (Kathmandu University) and the team of student research assistants from Kathmandu University. (2010) 

Publications

2012

Maddox, B. and Esposito, L.  (2012) ‘Literacy inequalities, mediation and the public good: a case study of physical proximity and social distance in Nepal’. British Journal of Sociology of Education.
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showAxaArticles?journalCode=cbse20

Maddox, B., Aikman, S., Rao, N., and Robinson-Pant (2011)  ‘Literacy Inequalities and Social Justice’. Editorial for Special Issue on Literacy Inequalities, International Journal of Educational Development. Vol. 31 pp 577-579.
 

2011

Maddox, B. and Esposito, L. (2011) ‘Sufficiency Re-examined: A Capabilities Perspective on the assessment of Functional Adult Literacy’ Journal of Development Studies. Vol. 47, No. 9 (September).

2010

B. Maddox. (2010) ‘Marginal Returns: re-thinking mobility and educational benefit in contexts of chronic poverty’. COMPARE Vol. 10, No. 2.  March 2010.  pp213-222.

2009

B. Maddox, E. Allison and T. Daw. (2009) 'Literacies, Development and Education in Fishing-dependent Communities' in Maritime Studies (MAST), Volume 8, No. 2.

Bryan Maddox and Ragnhild Overå (2009) 'New technologies, new demands and new literacies: The changing literacy practices of fishing communities in Bangladesh and Ghana', Maritime Studies (MAST), Volume 8, No. 2.

Basu, K, Maddox, B. and Robinson-Pant, A. (Eds.) (2009) Interdisciplinary Approaches to Literacy and Development. Routledge, London. Introductory chapter – ‘A review of the field’

Maddox, B. (2009) ‘Models and Mechanisms: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives on Literacy and Development’. In Basu, K, Maddox, B. and Robinson-Pant, A. (Eds.) (2009) Interdisciplinary Approaches to Literacy and Development. Routledge, London. pp 179-196.

Maddox, B. (2009) ‘New Literacies, New Demands and New Technologies: The Changing Literacy Practices of Bangladeshi Fishing Communities’. School of International Development Working Paper No: 12. ISSN 1756-7904.
Link to the paper

2008

Basu, K., Maddox, B. and Robinson-Pant, A (2008) ‘Literacies, Identities and Social Change: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Literacy and Development’. Editorial to Special Issue of Journal of Development Studies, Volume 44, No. 6 (2008), pp769-778.

Maddox, B (2008) ‘What good is literacy? Insights and implications of the capabilities approach’ Journal of Human Development (Vol. 9, No. 2 , July 2008)

Maddox, B. and Chitrakar, R. (2008) ‘A Community Literacy Project: Nepal’, in N. Hornberger and B.Street (Eds.) Encyclopaedia of Language and Education. Springer, Netherlands.

2007

Maddox, B (2007) ‘Worlds apart? Ethnographic reflections on ‘effective literacy’ and intrahousehold externalities’, World Development. Vol. 35, No. 3, pp 532-541.
Link to Journal Article

Maddox, B (2007) ‘What Can Ethnographic Studies Tell Us About the Consequences of Literacy’.  Comparative Education. Vol. 43 No. 2. pp 253-271
Link to Journal Article

Maddox, B (2007) ‘Secular and Koranic Literacies in South Asia: From Colonisation to Contemporary Practice’, International Journal of Educational Development (Vol. 27. 661-668. November 2007).

Harper, I and Maddox, B (2007) ‘The Impossibility of Well-Being: Development language and the pathologisation of Nepal’. A. Jimenez (ed) The anthropology of well-being: Culture and the Politics of Freedom, Pluto Press.

Maddox, B (2007) ‘From Models to Mechanisms: Inter-disciplinary perspectives on literacy and development’, Q-Squared Working Paper Series, No. 36, April 2007.
 

Earlier Publications

Maddox, B (2005) ‘Assessing the Impact of Women’s Literacies in Bangladesh: An Ethnographic Inquiry’, International Journal of Educational Development.  March 2005. (25) 123-132
Link to Journal Article 

Maddox, B  (2004) ‘Language Policy, Modernist Ambivalence and Social Exclusion: A Case Study of Rupendehi District in Nepal’s Tarai’, in  Studies in Nepali History and Society , Vol. 8. no.2 pp205-224. Dec 2003 (backdated issue: published 2004).
Link to Journal Article

Maddox, B (2001) ‘Literacy and the Market: The economic uses of literacy among the peasantry in north-west Bangladesh’, in Street, B (ed) Literacy and Development: Ethnographic Perspectives, London, Routledge. 
Link to Journal Article 


Policy Papers
 

Maddox (2009)  ‘Guidelines for Conducting Ethnographic Research in Parallel to LAMP implementation’.  UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP). June 2009. 

Maddox, B and Allison, E (2006) contributed to ‘Promoting Literacy to Improve Livelihoods in Fishing Communities’, a policy brief with the FAO Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Project, and background paper on ‘Literacy and Capability Deprivation in Fishing Communities’.

Maddox, B. (2005)  Commissioned Paper fro UNESCO – Country Study on Literacy in Bangladesh for the EFA Monitoring Report. Published on-line www.unesco.org/education/efa_report

Esposito, L. Kebede, B. and Maddox, B. (2011). ‘Literacy Practices and Schooling: A Case Study from Mozambique’. World Development . Vol. 39, No. 10 (October). 

I am committed to using innovative and participatory teaching and learning methods. My teaching style tends to be very interactive, even in lectures.  I co-direct the Masters in Education and Development (with Sheila Aikman), teaching on the Introduction to Education and Development (masters unit, M007) and  Education Policy and Practice for Development (M046).  I supervise masters dissertations on education related topics, and PhD student working on education (in collaboration with the School of Education and Lifelong Learning).  With Cecile Jackson teach on the 2^nd year undergraduate unit on social anthropology (SAID 2).  I welcome supervision of doctoral research on topics related to education and literacy.

Current Doctoral Research Students:

Frances Hay 'Occupational Stratification and Mobility: An Empirical Investigation into Intergenerational Occupational Change in Relation to Class and Status in India' [ESRC funded]

Antoni Wojcik;  'Coastal fishing communities and education in Mozambique: role of education in process of active citizenship'.

Beth Titchiner;  'The anthropological and epistemological roots of violence in schooling and an exploration towards a non-violent practical philosophy of education'.

Camilla Addey; Investigating large-scale literacy assessment with case study of the UNESCO Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (provisional title).

Recently Completed PhDs

Juan Carlos Barron-Pastor (2011) ‘Inclusion Policies in Mexican Higher Education: Listening to Participants of Intercultural Programmes’.

Samantha Ross-Hepworth (2010) ‘Talking the Walk: Language as the Missing Ingredient of Biodiversity Conservation? An Investigation of Plant Knowledge in West Usambara Mountains, Tanzania’