This book draws upon the authors' extensive experience in adult literacy promotion in many different countries of the developing world and in the West, as well as on the work of many others (both researchers and practitioners), to understand what literacy means in different contexts and to develop new ways in which the uses of literacy can be promoted. They advocate the use of ethnographic approaches to explore the nature of everyday literacy practices, especially those learned through informal learning. In seeking new ways of promoting literacy, they argue that the two fields of the informal learning of informal literacies and the formal learning of formal literacies can form an alliance - that each can build on the other to increase the literacy practices in everyday use. The book is brought to life with stories drawn from experience and is illustrated with photographs of adult literacy practices in different international contexts. It will appeal to all those concerned with adult literacy, including practitioners and policy makers, planners and trainers, and researchers and students in development and educational programs.