Mestiz@ Scripts, Digital Migrations, and the Territories of Writing

by D. Baca

Overview

Conventional scholarship on written communication positions the Western alphabet as a precondition for literacy. Thus, pictographic, non-verbal writing practices of Mesoamerica remain obscured by representations of lettered speech. This book examines how contemporary Mestiz@ scripts challenge alphabetic dominance, thereby undermining the colonized territories of "writing." Strategic weavings of Aztec and European inscription systems not only promote historically-grounded accounts of how recorded information is expressed across cultures, but also speak to emerging studies on "visual/multimodal" education. Baca-Espinosa argues that Mestiz@ literacies advance "new" ways of reading and writing, applicable to diverse classrooms of the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230605152
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	05/15/2008
Series:	New Directions in Latino American Cultures
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

DAMIÁN BACA is assistant professor of Rhetoric & Writing, Chicano-Latino studies, and American Indian studies at the University of Arizona. Baca earned his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 2006.

Table of Contents

Mestiz@ Scripts and the Rhetoric of Subversion * New Consciousness/Ancient Myths * Mestiz@: A Brief History, from Mexicatl to Chican@ * Codex Scripts of Resistance: From Columbus to the Border Patrol * The Spreading of Color: Sacred Scripts and the Genesis of the Rio Grande * Gloria Anzaldúa and the Territories of Writing * Thinking and Teaching across Borders and Hemispheres