LINGUIST List 12.2114

Mon Aug 27 2001

Review: Street, Literacy and Development

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  • Dennis Malone, Review of Street, ed., Literacy and Development

    Message 1: Review of Street, ed., Literacy and Development

     Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 15:05:03 -0500
    From: Dennis Malone <dennis_malonesil.org>
    Subject: Review of Street, ed., Literacy and Development


    Street, Brian V., ed. (2001) Literacy and Development: Ethnographic Perspectives. Routledge, paperback ISBN 0-415-23451-4, hardcover ISBN 0-415-23450-6, x+228pp.

    Dennis L. Malone, Ph.D., International Literacy Consultant, SIL International

    PURPOSE Brian Street, the editor of this volume, has played a critical role in the development of literacy studies that problematize the traditional view of literacy as a necessary and pivotal ingredient in a society's intellectual, social, economic and political development (cf. Goody & Watt, 1968, Olson, 1977, Ong 1982). In his 1984 publication, "Literacy in Theory and Practice," Street developed the "autonomous" and "ideological" models of literacy. Countering the conception of literacy as a neutral set of communicative technological skills and attitudes that "automatically" lead to development, Street contended that in reality, literacy is a social practice that differs significantly from society to society, and even among social classes within the same society.

    In Street's conception (frequently cited by the ten authors in this collection), "Literacy" (big-L literacy, in Street's phrase), when defined as a single set of skills, cannot account adequately for the multiplicity of literacy practices that can be identified in ostensibly "illiterate" communities. Street refers to these practices as "multiple literacies" or "local literacies" (cf. Street, 1993) In one sense the current volume can be considered a sequel to his 1993 set of studies, albeit refocused toward the linkages among literacy, development and ethnographic research.

    As Street asserts, ethnographic research is "more concerned with attempting to understand what actually happens than with trying to prove the success of a particular intervention or 'sell' a particular methodology for teaching or management" (p. 1). In this volume, ethnographic research shares equal billing with literacy and development.

    SUMMARY OF CONTENT The book begins with an Introduction by Street. This is followed by the ethnographic studies that are divided into two sections: "I. Literacy and development: ethnographic perspectives on schooling and adult education" and "II. Literacy and development: local literacies and development agendas." Each of the two sections is preceded by its own "Introduction" which serves as a friendly review of the articles in that section. The volume concludes with an "Afterword: problematising literacy and development" by Alan Rogers.

    In his Introduction to the volume (pp. 1-17), Street sets out the main themes that unite this collection of 10 ethnographic views of literacy uses and practices in Africa (Namibia, Eritrea, and Ghana), Asia (India, twice, Nepal, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan) and South America (Peru). He argues that only an ethnographic approach can focus on the local meanings of literacy/literacies while addressing the larger issues raised by what are called the "New Orders" and the "New Literacy Studies" His editorial aim is "to operationalise these approaches as a basis both for research purposes and for practical applications" (p. 6, 10-11).

    Section I includes four studies.

    (1) Dyer & Choksi (pp. 27-39) present a thoughtful and engaging account of a "failed" literacy intervention with the nomadic Rabari of India. Reminiscent of Hornberger's (1987) account of "Bilingual Education Success, but Policy Failure" in Peru, the authors discover that an innovative nomadic literacy program is quite possible but not congruent with the understanding and aspirations of the Rabari with respect to formal education. The Rabari see the latter ideologically as a door opening into the modern world in which they have access to alternative and more viable ways of living or at least to the economic, cultural and symbolic "capital" that leads to them (p. 37).

    (2) Although disclaiming any evaluative intent, Papen (pp. 40-60) presents a critique of the National Literacy Programme in Namibia (NLPN) and its claim to providing Namibians with their "key for a better future". The author's detailed account of the NLPN and a "Literacy Day" event provides her with ample opportunities to apply the theoretical concepts of the "New Literacy Studies" to problematize the motivation and implementation of the NLPN.

    (3) Wright (pp. 61-77) provides readers with a detailed account of the change in her perception of the "chanting" pedagogy typical of primary education in Eritrea. She finds that what seems on the surface to be mindless and monotonous rote instruction actually connects in meaningful and effective ways with the cultural background of the learners.

    (4) Chopra (pp. 78-91) narrates an introspective ("reflexive") account of her interpersonal relationships as an ethnographic literacy researcher among participants in a literacy center in a north Indian village. She analyzes her interactions with research subjects in a previous fieldwork site, which she renames her "homework" site (pp. 79-80). The account suffers a bit in lack of clarity from that type of word play but does offer the reader an insider's view of the ethical dilemmas facing ethnographers of the "new literacy".

    In Section II the studies are more focused on the relationships between literacy and development.

    (5) Aikman, (pp. 103-120) presents an historically contextualized account of "self-development" in the Harakmbut language community in Amazonian Peru. She parries concepts of development from a missionary and governmental perspective with the concepts of Harakmbut self-development as revealed through the activities of a local community organization.

    (6) Herbert and Robinson (pp. 121-136) provide an account of the relationship between languages and literacies in northern Ghana, pointing out the ways that different community literacy practices often involve--in some cases, require--different languages. They raise and respond to a significant question: Do the differences observed among the various literacies in northern Ghana "depend on language" (p. 134)?

    (7) Maddox (pp. 137-151) describes economic uses of literacy among peasants in Bangladesh, where "poor" and "illiterate" are considered synonymous. The author considers the practical uses of literacy and numeracy among the peasant population of northwestern Bangladesh "to be undervalued by politicians and development planners" (p. 149) when they should be the foundation on which effective adult education programs are built.

    (8) Robinson-Pant (pp. 152-170) provides an insightful and probing account of the problematic relationship between ethnographer and development agency with respect to research undertaken for a Western NGO in Nepal. She raises a significant issue when she questions "how far ethnographic research can be packaged and sold as a product to the developers" (p. 152).

    (9) Stites (pp. 171-187) provides readers with detailed descriptions of the literacy uses and practices he discovered during visits and interviews in 100 households in southeastern China. He seeks to understand the disparate literacy rates between men and women in three rural communities, as well as the apparent disjunction between the national adult literacy curriculum and the home environments in which most women, who comprise the majority of learners, use literacy.

    (10) Zubair (pp. 188-204) contributes an account of the power issues involved in the acquisition of literacy and formal education by women in a rural Pakistani community. Although she includes the "voices" of the research participants themselves, her conclusions are the least convincing of this group of articles, partially because they are generalized far beyond the small and localized research community, and partially because the author is not clear about which language(s) was(were) used in the collection of data (cp. Robinson-Pant).

    Alan Roger's "Afterword" (pp. 205-221) provides a critique of the ethnographic points of view presented in the volume in terms of the degree to which they have increased our understanding of the linkages of literacy to development. As Rogers points out, the purpose of this volume is to provide literacy and development practitioners with useful insights into what actually is--and is not--happening in literacy and development interventions. Rogers is nevertheless left with an unquiet sense of what he calls "unfinished business": "Time and again, I was tempted to ask at the end of a chapter, 'So what?'" (p. 217). Rogers goes on to assess the "missing practical implication" (pp. 220-221). (See below for reviewer comment.)

    A CRITICAL EVALUATION Brian Street is to be commended for providing this collection of ethnographic studies of literacy and development in diverse contexts. Unlike his 1993 collection of studies, these are all informed by recent research and possess a unity of perspective not apparent in the previous volume. Street is also to be commended for including Alan Roger's insightful review and critique of the collection. Having made rather extensive notes of each article as I reviewed the book, I was personally impressed at how many of my questions and concerns were raised by Rogers in the "Afterword".

    >From my point of view as an applied linguist and practitioner of literacy and development in multilingual contexts, I value this volume for demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of an ethnographic approach to the study of literacy and development in diverse ethno- linguistic communities. It is highly unlikely that any of the findings revealed in these studies could have resulted from traditional survey or other quantitative forms of research.

    But again as an applied linguist, I was disappointed that while several authors made clear reference to multilingual research contexts, they failed to discuss adequately the issue of language in those situations. For example, Zubair writes about Seraiki-speaking women's literacies in three languages--Arabic, Urdu, and English but she does not probe the fact that none of these three is the women's mother tongue (p. 192). Stites, in his introduction, emphasizes the predominance of "non-Han minority groups" in remote and underdeveloped regions of China but does not then address language issues in his discussion of adult literacy programs at his research site (p. 171). Chopra refers to the use of a local language, Hindi and English (pp. 82-83) by different research participants. However, she ignores language as a factor in her discussion of the unequal power relationships among the participants (including the researcher herself).

    The failure to address the issue of language in those articles is somewhat balanced by the Herbert and Robinson and the Robinson-Pant articles. Herbert and Robinson discuss the affect of language choice on four literacy practices in northern Ghana. Robinson-Pant describes incidents of language clash between Maithili (participants) and Nepali (facilitators) in some communities (p. 159). She uses those incidents to evaluate the impact of language use on literacy instruction and the development of literacy materials.

    A final word: the authors' frequent dichotomous characterization of languages and literacies as either dominant or dominated ("subaltern") implies an active antipathy between the promoters of dominant literacies and the users of local literacies. In my own experience, ignorance and indifference is as much a factor as active opposition in the failure of the dominant society to support local languages and literacies. Frequently, the problem is less the muteness of the marginalized people in promoting their needs and aspirations as it is the deafness of the powers that be. Perhaps the most significant contribution of ethnographic research in literacy and development contexts is to give a public voice to the people who have traditionally been excluded from active participation in the development process. In that respect, this volume is certainly a step in the right direction.

    BIBLIOGRAPHY Goody, Jack and Watt, Ian. (1988/1968). The Consequences of Literacy. In Eugene Kintgen, Barry Kroll, and Mike Rose, eds. Perspectives on Literacy, Southern Illinois University Press.

    Olson, David. (1988/1977). From Utterance to Text: The Bias of Language in Speech and Writing. In Eugene Kintgen, Barry Kroll, and Mike Rose, eds. Perspectives on Literacy, Southern Illinois University Press.

    Heath, Shirley Brice. (1983). Way with Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and Classrooms, Cambridge University Press.

    Hornberger, Nancy. (1987). Bilingual Education Success, but policy failure. Language and Society 16, 205-226.

    Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, Routledge.

    Street, Brian. (1984). Literacy in Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press.

    Street, Brian V, ed. (1993). Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy, Cambridge University Press

    BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Dennis Malone earned a Ph.D. in Education at Indiana University and is currently working as an International Literacy Consultant with SIL International in the Asia Area. His research interests are mother tongue education, sociolinguistics (especially language maintenance and endangerment issues) and literacy studies in general. He has extensive experience in ethnic minority education in Asia and the Pacific. He is currently serving as visiting lecturer at Mahidol University-Salaya (Bangkok), advising on several mother tongue education projects in the Asia Area, and consulting with the Ministry of Education and Training and World bank on a pilot project on ethnic minority primary education in Vietnam.