In “Reading Adolescents’ Reading Identities: Looking back to see Ahead”, written by Donna E. Alvermann, published by International Literacy Association and Wiley, there are multiple arguments explaining people’s identities as readers. These identities that people get selected into often give these people a chance to find others like them, along with helping them discover their learning techniques. The purpose of this study was to analyze different identities ascribed to adolescents who struggle with literacy and reading comprehension. Alvermann wanted to examine how culture has the power to disable individuals, and how culture has persuaded many people to believe that they are “struggling readers” (Alvermann 677). The author then wanted to consider how our culture has influenced individuals on their reading capabilities, and how we might think about different ways to approach it when looking towards the future.

Alvermann defines culture as, “A much-contested term among anthropologists, culture is generally thought to include the routines, artifacts, values, and concerns that people produce, make meaning of, and share as they work communally with others in their group,” (Alvernmann, 678). So how does this relate to people’s reading comprehension? Basically, he is arguing that the identity of the reader associates that individual with a particular group. His stance claims that society, or the culture they live in, chooses their reading identity for them. This is because at a young age, adults and others  categorize them into certain identity groups. He writes, “…young people are often positioned as individuals without agency and autonomy, particularly in instances where adults perceive them as being irresponsible and lacking in good judgment,” (Alvermann 678). He goes on to mention that our individual ways of thinking, seeing, or speaking allow us to recognize other people that share the same identity. The author then created a scenario where an individual would examine how his culture influenced his identity, and he believed that this study would be valuable because it demonstrated how much culture actually constructs this concept of reading identities.

There is a lot of value to this research because it can relate to our project on self discovery. By analyzing dystopian societies and having our audience conduct certain assessments about themselves, it is very similar to them figuring out their “identity”. In a dystopian society, people’s identities are usually assigned to them, so the concept of self discovery is relatable to this source.