Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy

An investigation into the meanings and uses of literacy in different cultures and societies.

Brian V. Street (Edited by)

9780521409643, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 March 1993

336 pages, 7 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg

"This excellent volume....illustrates how widely the use of literacy varies from the popular conception of literacy in Western circles." Studies in Oral and Literate Culture

Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy, investigates the meanings and uses of literacy in different cultures and societies. In contrast to previous studies, where the focus of research has been on aspects of cognition, education and on the economic 'consequences' of literacy, these largely ethnographic essays bring together anthropological and linguistic work written over the last ten years. Accounts of literacy practices in a variety of locations, including Great Britain, the United States, Africa, the South Pacific and Madagascar, illustrate how these practices vary from one context to another, and challenge the traditional view that literacy is a single, uniform skill, essential to functioning in a modern society.

Introduction: the new literacy studies Brian Street
Part I. The Incorporation of Literacy Into The Communicative Repertoire: l. Conceptions and uses of literacy in a Papua New Guinean village Don Kulick and Christopher Stroud
2. Literacy and feelings: the encoding of affect in Nukulaelae letters Niko Besnier
3. The uses of schooling and literacy in a Zafimaniny village Maurice Bloch
4. Arabic literacy and enlightenment among the Mende of Sierra Leone Caroline Bledsoe and Kenneth M. Robey
Part II. Local Literacies and National Politics: Ethnicity, Gender and Religion: 5. Literacy and cultural identity in the Horn of Africa: the Somali case I. M. Lewis
6. Gender, language and the politics of literacy Kathleen Rockhill
7. Literacy, development and ethnicity: an Alaskan example Stephen Reder and Karen Reed Wikelund
8. The letter and the spirit: literacy and religious authority in the history of the Aladura movement in western Nigeria Peter Probst
Part III. Literacy Variation in Urban Settings: 9. Vernacular writing: varieties of literacy among Philadelphia high school students Miriam Camitta
l0. Collaborative writing
appropriating power or reproducing authority? Amy Shuman
ll. Literacy and social process: a community in transition Gail Weinstein-Shr
l2. Mediators of literacy and community interpreters Mike Baynam.

Subject Areas: Literacy [CFC]