Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy

by Brian V. Street (Editor)

Overview

Brian Street's volume investigates the meanings and uses of literacy in different cultures and societies. These largely ethnographic essays bring together anthropological and linguistic work written over the past ten years by anthropologists and sociolinguists. Accounts of literacy practices vary from one context to another, and challenge the view that literacy is a single, uniform skill, essential to functioning in a modern society. The conclusions reached will be crucial for future researchers, and of interest to educators, developers and practitioners in the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521401678
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/25/1993
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture , #23
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"...the volume on the whole is excellent and can be highly recommended." The Modern Language Journal

"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

From the Publisher