Literacy and Literacies in Collins and Blot

Presented by:

Alex DeGroff

Andrea Garvey

Jared Montal

Mathew Tabor

Today’s Starting Lineup

• Brief Report of the Article

• State the Main Arguments

• Criticize the Arguments made in each Article

• Discussion of the Arguments and Criticisms

• Handout

• Brief Summary

• “At the base of the modern social order stands not the executioner but the professor” (113).

• Historical studies and accounts are the way to confront the intellectual, cultural and political significance of the dichotomy of the oral/written (113).– Therefore the method of the article is the use

of historical events.

Definitions

• Literacy:– "To read a blueprint is not literacy, though to read a

prose passage is" (162).

• Illiteracy:– Definitions are typically cast in terms of years of

schooling, not literacy per se (157).– “Not the inability to read or write but the inability to

read or write at certain levels within a prescribed domain" (162).

• Example: Reading at fourth-grade level when fifth is the benchmark.

The Meat of the Article

• Literacy has been fundamentally shaped by the emergence of modern forms of power.

• Education and literacy both have characteristics of this “new power”

• Early modern practices: – Persons of power were concerned with

regulating literacy and education.

Nation State

• Modern day nation states emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries.

• Challenge: – How to form a cultural-ideological identity

from a diverse population?

• How to create a unified people despite major divisions: – Example: rich and poor

“Historical Pathways” to create a Unified People

• 1: Careful definition and extension of

• citizenship

• 2: Extension of a system of social welfare

• 3: Racism

• U.S. early republic: – Local self-government was only meant for

free white males who owned property.

Inequalities of the Mature National Period

• The Three Types:– Class

• Working Class, Educated Classes

– Race• Caucasians, African Americans, Native Americans

– Gender• Male, Female

Class

• American Meritocracy– Advancement through demonstrated ability

• Universal School System– Standardized testing– Curriculum Tracks

• Academic• Vocational

Race

• African Americans and Illiteracy– Associated with Orality

• Contrast to ‘White Literacy’– Gross stereotype

– Blues Music as example of African American oral tradition

• Educational Apartheid– ‘Jim Crow’ laws

More Race…

• ‘Separate but Equal’ Education System– African Americans

• Boarding School System– Native Americans

Gender

• Women and “Different” Literacy– Girls relate more readily with school and

outperform their male classmates– Young women do not fare as well as the

males in later schooling or in the job market (155).

– Literate women tend to marry less than illiterate women.

More Gender…

• Literacy was seen as an act of autonomy against patriarchal oppression.

• Gendered magazines as example of ascribing roles via literacy.– Women are not illiterate so much as in a

different group of literacy than those in power.

American Print Culture and Nationalism

• Emphasis on the increasing centrality of schooling in the United States and in the construction of official or legitimate literacy (166).– Literacy and Education were the critical tools

that helped working class, racially oppressed, and women to overcome ascribed inequalities.

Conclusion

• Literacy is a means by which groups can overcome the oppression ascribed to them by persons/groups in power– Literacy is usually under the control of those

power players

• Historical analysis is a proper method for reviewing Literary Oppression.

• Literacy pervades pretty much everything!

Discussion

• Literate vs. Illiterate workers– Literate, Academic, “Pencil Pushers”

• Formal, to the point thinking?

– Illiterate, Vocational “Work with your Hands”• More creative and independent thinking?