According to Crain, literacy came into currency in the late 19th century in or around 1883 and it originated as an antithesis to illiteracy. From a historical perspective, this was somewhat surprising to me when we think of the history of texts and the written word. I would have imagined that the 16th century and the introduction of the printing press would have brought into light advancements in the study of literacy at least in terms of a sociological study. For different societies in history, literacy had different meanings which were restricted by class and racial hierarchies. For fifth century BC Athenian gentry, the possession of literacy was assumed and it meant being cultured. For medieval European clergy it meant being educated in Latin. At its' basic definition, in modern times literacy encompasses all things associated with reading and writing of a standard language of the culture one lives in. For us, although not limited to this definition, it means being able to read, write, and communicate in the English language.
With advances in digital and hypermedia technology, the concept of literacy will expand to include or exclude those who may or may not be proficient in this new technology. As an intricate part of achieving literacy, one must have access to literacy. Being a student at Wayne State University on and off since 1995, I have been witness to the changes and shifts from traditional methods of education that included books, paper, pen, chalkboard, chalk, and over head projectors to e-books, laptops, and media stations. These changes have began to shape our access to knowledge and will undoubtedly continue to do so changing with it how we view, understand, and achieve literacy. John Buschman says it best when he claims,
"It is widely argued, however, that the electronic-and now digital-world has disrupted any unitary notion of literacy per se because these advanced technologies have 'simultaneously broadened and splintered [it] into many literacies." (96)
These advances of course will create a gap between those who can access this technology and those whose socioeconomic conditions will not allow them to gain access to this new form of achieving literacy. This gap would become larger not only within first world nations but also between the technologically superior nations and the rest of the world.
While doing the reading this week, particularly the Knoblauch reading, I couldn't help but think of the different degrees of literacy that exist within my own family. My sister, my mother, and my grandmother represent three generations of various degrees of literacy. My grandmother does not read or write not even in her native Arabic language. She is of a primary oral culture. She can recite verses from the Quran which she has committed to memory, she can tell stories and sing folk songs, some of her children went on to graduate college, and in her day she was the norm among women within that culture. My mother is a high school graduate who can read and write in both the Arabic and English languages although her formal education was only in Arabic. She learned the English language mainly through picking it up from her children, conversations with the English speaking public, and through television, mainly through soap operas out of all things where proper English is spoken and done so in a slow fashion allowing for comprehension. She is now taking courses to prepare her for the TOEFL exam that would allow her to take college courses. My sister on the other hand is able to read and write in both Arabic and English and she just graduated with a doctorate degree.
I bring this example up with Knoblauch's Literacy and the Politics of Education in mind. According to the definitions of literacy we have encountered in this week's readings, for all practical purposes, grandma is illiterate. My mother can fall under the functionalist perspective, cultural literacy model, and is currently in the process of achieving the literacy-for-personal growth perspective. My sister falls under all those arguments and with a little stretching of the definition of the critical literacy perspective, she can be included in that argument as well as she is able to understand and have a critical consciousness of the dominant structures that exist within the language of our culture.
While doing the reading this week, particularly the Knoblauch reading, I couldn't help but think of the different degrees of literacy that exist within my own family. My sister, my mother, and my grandmother represent three generations of various degrees of literacy. My grandmother does not read or write not even in her native Arabic language. She is of a primary oral culture. She can recite verses from the Quran which she has committed to memory, she can tell stories and sing folk songs, some of her children went on to graduate college, and in her day she was the norm among women within that culture. My mother is a high school graduate who can read and write in both the Arabic and English languages although her formal education was only in Arabic. She learned the English language mainly through picking it up from her children, conversations with the English speaking public, and through television, mainly through soap operas out of all things where proper English is spoken and done so in a slow fashion allowing for comprehension. She is now taking courses to prepare her for the TOEFL exam that would allow her to take college courses. My sister on the other hand is able to read and write in both Arabic and English and she just graduated with a doctorate degree.
I bring this example up with Knoblauch's Literacy and the Politics of Education in mind. According to the definitions of literacy we have encountered in this week's readings, for all practical purposes, grandma is illiterate. My mother can fall under the functionalist perspective, cultural literacy model, and is currently in the process of achieving the literacy-for-personal growth perspective. My sister falls under all those arguments and with a little stretching of the definition of the critical literacy perspective, she can be included in that argument as well as she is able to understand and have a critical consciousness of the dominant structures that exist within the language of our culture.
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