This paper uncovers the dynamics of the twin processes of the construction of identity and the contextualisation of learning in adult literacy education by documenting the spatial practices of students and tutors. The paper mobilises the concepts of localising and globalising activities to make two interrelated arguments. Firstly, analysis of space-time relations enriches understanding of social positioning and this has a strong bearing on the kinds of literate identities that adult students and their teachers are able and/or obliged to construct through participation in their classes. Secondly, in order to achieve the agency needed to resist potentially negative social positioning, adults need to be able to construct hybrid, local-global space-times. (Contains 3 figures.)