Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and IdentityCambridge University Press, 2003 M05 8 - 217 pages Literacy and Literacies is an engaging account of literacy and its relation to power. The book develops a synthesis of literacy studies, moving beyond received categories, and exploring the domain of power through questions of colonialism, modern state formation, educational systems and official versus popular literacies. Collins and Blot offer in-depth critical discussion of particular cases and discuss the role of literacies in the formation of class, gender, and ethnic identity. Through their analysis of two domains - those of literacies and power, and of literacies and subjectivity - they challenge received assumptions about literacy, intellectual development and social progress and argue that neither 'universalist' nor 'particularist' accounts offer satisfactory approaches to the phenomenon. This is a sustained exploration of the domain of power in relation to literacy. It will be welcomed by students and researchers in anthropology, linguistics, literacy studies and history. |
Contents
TEXTS POWER AND IDENTITY | 1 |
VEXED QUESTIONS OF RATIONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SELF | 9 |
3 SITUATED APPROACHES TO THE LITERACY DEBATE | 34 |
EUROAMERICAN LESSONS | 67 |
AMERICAN CASES | 99 |
COLONIAL LEGACIES AND INDIGENOUS TRANSFORMATIONS | 121 |
Other editions - View all
Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and Identity James Collins,Richard K. Blot No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
adults African Americans analysis anishinaabe Anthropology argues argument Aztecs Bible Bongo Bourdieu century Certeau chapter Christian civilization claims cognitive Collins colonial complex contemporary context cultural Cumbal debate Derrida dichotomy discourse discussion dominant early elite emerged emphasis ethnographic example Finnegan gender Gilyard Goody Goody’s groups Heath historical identity ideology illiteracy Indians indigenous individual inscription institutions interaction knowledge L´evi-Strauss learned legacies Limba Limba language linguistic literacy practices literacy thesis literate practices lives maktab means Mesoamerica midewiwin Mixtec modern Nahuatl Nambikwara native Native American nonliterate Olson oral political post-structuralist provides questions reading and writing record religious representation ritual Roadville schooled literacy script scriptural economy sense Silas John social society Spanish stories Street teachers textual tion Tolowa Language Trackton tradition transformation Unifon University Press versus Western Apache Language whole language women words working-class writing system