Literacy practices in rural Tanzania
the case of Karagwe
Document identifier: oai:dalea.du.se:1965
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10.1080/01434630608668777Keyword: Social Sciences,
Educational Sciences,
Samhällsvetenskap,
Utbildningsvetenskap,
Education,
Ethnolinguistics,
Literacy,
Power,
TanzaniaPublication year: 2006Relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
The SDG label(s) above have been assigned by OSDG.aiAbstract: In this article I argue that literacy, as an aspect of language, is closely related to power. With the example of Karagwe, I show that different literacy practices relate differently to power. In Karagwe dominant literacies, that are officially prescribed and standardised, have a main function to sort people and maintain authority. As they are spread through schools, schooled literacies are very much geared at sorting pupils. Dominated literacy practises often have decorative and cultural functions and often do not follow standard norms, for example in spelling. In some cases there are local norms. Dominated literacies are more or less stigmatised. A third group of literacy practises, semi-dominant, are spread mainly through seminars and development agencies, such as different non-governmental organisations. These literacy practises, that are important for the improvement of daily life and economic conditions, focus both on formal features and on the content in the texts. I argue that literacy in Karagwe is an important tool for maintaining authority while it is at the same time a tool for people to contest and resist authority.
Authors
Åsa Wedin
Högskolan Dalarna; Svenska språket
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header:
identifier: oai:dalea.du.se:1965
datestamp: 2021-04-15T12:57:40Z
setSpec: SwePub-du
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recordInfo:
recordContentSource: du
recordCreationDate: 2006-03-14
identifier:
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-1965
10.1080/01434630608668777
titleInfo:
@attributes:
lang: eng
title: Literacy practices in rural Tanzania
subTitle: the case of Karagwe
abstract: In this article I argue that literacy as an aspect of language is closely related to power. With the example of Karagwe I show that different literacy practices relate differently to power. In Karagwe dominant literacies that are officially prescribed and standardised have a main function to sort people and maintain authority. As they are spread through schools schooled literacies are very much geared at sorting pupils. Dominated literacy practises often have decorative and cultural functions and often do not follow standard norms for example in spelling. In some cases there are local norms. Dominated literacies are more or less stigmatised. A third group of literacy practises semi-dominant are spread mainly through seminars and development agencies such as different non-governmental organisations. These literacy practises that are important for the improvement of daily life and economic conditions focus both on formal features and on the content in the texts. I argue that literacy in Karagwe is an important tool for maintaining authority while it is at the same time a tool for people to contest and resist authority.
subject:
@attributes:
lang: eng
authority: uka.se
topic:
Social Sciences
Educational Sciences
@attributes:
lang: swe
authority: uka.se
topic:
Samhällsvetenskap
Utbildningsvetenskap
@attributes:
lang: eng
topic: Education
@attributes:
lang: eng
topic: ethnolinguistics
@attributes:
lang: eng
topic: literacy
@attributes:
lang: eng
topic: power
@attributes:
lang: eng
topic: Tanzania
language:
languageTerm: eng
genre:
publication/journal-article
ref
note:
Published
1
name:
@attributes:
type: personal
authority: du
namePart:
Wedin
Åsa
role:
roleTerm: aut
affiliation:
Högskolan Dalarna
Svenska språket
nameIdentifier:
awe
0000-0002-2992-0818
originInfo:
dateIssued: 2006
relatedItem:
@attributes:
type: host
titleInfo:
title: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
identifier:
0143-4632
1747-7557
part:
detail:
@attributes:
type: volume
number: 27
@attributes:
type: issue
number: 3
extent:
start: 225
end: 240
physicalDescription:
form: print
typeOfResource: text