The Social Uses of Literacy
Theory and Practice in Contemporary South Africa
Editors
Preface Author
This book details the findings of a research project investigating the social uses of literacy in a range of contexts in South Africa. This approach treats literacy not simply as a set of technical skills learnt in formal education, but as social practices embedded in specific contexts, discourses and positions. What this means is made clear through a series of fine-grained accounts of social uses and meanings of literacy in contexts ranging from the taxi industry in Cape Town, to family farms, urban settlements and displacement sites, rural land holdings, and various sites during the 1994 elections, and among different sectors of South African society, Black, Colored and White.
Since the view of literacy presented here is so dependent on context, the book provides not only descriptions of literacy practices but also rich insights into the complexity of everyday social life in contemporary South Africa at a major point of transition. It can be read as a concrete way of understanding the emergence of the New South Africa as it appears to actors on the ground, focused through attention to one central feature of contemporary life — the uses and meanings of literacy.
“Using fascinating and carefully documented case-study material, this book raises vital questions about literacy and illiteracy, and about adult education. Above all, it questions the efficacy of any literacy programme which fails to acknowledge the many ways in which uneducated and so called ‘illiterate’ people already use reading, writing and numeracy in their everyday lives.” Jenny Maybin, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Since the view of literacy presented here is so dependent on context, the book provides not only descriptions of literacy practices but also rich insights into the complexity of everyday social life in contemporary South Africa at a major point of transition. It can be read as a concrete way of understanding the emergence of the New South Africa as it appears to actors on the ground, focused through attention to one central feature of contemporary life — the uses and meanings of literacy.
“Using fascinating and carefully documented case-study material, this book raises vital questions about literacy and illiteracy, and about adult education. Above all, it questions the efficacy of any literacy programme which fails to acknowledge the many ways in which uneducated and so called ‘illiterate’ people already use reading, writing and numeracy in their everyday lives.” Jenny Maybin, The Open University, Milton Keynes
[Studies in Written Language and Literacy, 4] 1996. viii, 279 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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PrefaceBrian Street | p. 1
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IntroductionMastin Prinsloo | p. 11
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Section 1: Literacies at work
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1. Literacy, voter education and constructions of citizenship in the Western Cape during the firstdemocratic national elections in South AfricaMastin Prinsloo | p. 33
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2. Literacy, knowledge, gender and power in the workplace on three farms in the Western CapeDiana Gibson | p. 49
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3. Literacy and communication in a Cape factoryMignonne Breier | p. 65
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4. Communicative practices of the service staff of a schoolKathy Watters | p. 85
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Section 2: Mediating literacies
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5. Literacy mediation and social identity in Newton, Easter CapeLiezl Malan | p. 105
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6. Cultural brokers and bricoleurs of modern and traditional literacies: Land struggles inNamaqualand’s Coloured reservesSteven Robins | p. 123
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7. Literacy learning and local literacy practice in Bellville SouthLiezl Malan | p. 141
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8. ‘We can all sing, but we can’t all talk’: Literacy brokers and tsotsi gangstersin a Cape Town shantytownAmmon China | p. 157
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Section 3: Contextualising literacies: policy lessons
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9. Literacy, migrancy and disrupted domesticity: Khayelitshan ways of knowingPhumza Mpoyiya | p. 177
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10. “We are waiting/ this is our home’: Literacy and the search for ressources in the ruralEastern CapeM.J. McEwan | p. 197
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11. Taking literacy for a ride — reading and writing in the taxi industryMignonne Breier | p. 213
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12. Literacy practices in an informal settlement in the Cape PeninsulaCatherine Kell | p. 235
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AfterwordTony Morphet | p. 257
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Index | p. 275
“Using fascinating and carefully documented case-study material, this book raises vital questions about literacy and illiteracy, and about adult education. Above all, it questions the efficacy of any literacy programme which fails to acknowledge the many ways in which uneducated and so called ‘illiterate’ people already use reading, writing and numeracy in their everyday lives. ”
Jenny Maybin
, The Open University, Milton Keynes
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Subjects
Linguistics
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General