[xmca] Concept s of Culture & Literacy

Hi Colin,
The anti-Catholic laws were, indeed, a systematic attempt to
deculturalize, marginalize, and further oppress the Irish. Like too many
racist, sexist, lingucist, and bigoted policies today,they were cloaked
under a false cape by clerics and the academy.

As my Tanzanian colleague Elinimi Swai pointed out, as scholars associated
with cultural-historical activity, it is important we have a clear
understanding of our definition of "culture". Across time, the
consequences of an unexamined definition have been used to legitimize
individual and collective instances of abuse, slavery, and war.
Stetsenko's work is a great resource for those interested in the
philosophical positioning of CHAT.

Other CHAT scholars like Cole, Scribner, and John-Steiner have shed light
on the fact that our concepts of culture and literacy are too small.
Thanks for clarifying your position.

Cathrene

 Cathrene,
>
> Perhaps my phrasing was less than perfect, but you mis-read my intention.
>
> 'Cultural impoverishment' as I meant it was not a charge against any
> 'people' (in a collective sense) in any part of the world. It
> was a charge against an economic and political system that denies large
> numbers of people (in many parts of the world) of access
> to the means of becoming literate - which, in today's world, means access
> to the possibility of schooling.
>
> It is in that sense, only, that |I think it is reasonable to talk of
> 'cultural impoverishment' - to describe a process of
> limitation of possibility, not as an argument to look down on some people
> and thereby provide an excuse for excluding them from
> any of the rights we claim for ourselves. Whatever justification was
> offered for them, the anti-Catholic laws were reactionary.
>
> I think it is reasonable to draw a damning contrast between, say, the
> military spending of the British or American governments and
> spending on primary and secondary education in Africa and elsewhere, or
> between the wealth and incomes of financiers in the City
> of London and the budgets for adult literacy in Europe. That was my point.
>
> Colin
>
> Before acting on this email or opening any attachments you should read the
> Manchester
> Metropolitan University's email disclaimer available on its website
> http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer
>>>> Cathrene Connery <cconnery@ithaca.edu> 07/09/08 9:57 PM >>>
>
> Colin,
> I would assert that individuals who do not formally read or write are
> politically marginalized, however, I am curious what measure, standards,
> or means allow you to contend that "pre-literate" individuals or peoples
> are "culturally impoverished"? Your sentiment sounds a little too much why
> my illiterate ancestors left Ireland after the anti-Catholic laws were
> enacted.
> Cathrene
>
>
> Eric,
>>
>> No one, I hope, would suggest that to be 'pre-literate' is to lack
>> highly
>> developed mental functions. However, to be
>> 'pre-literate' in today's world - thanks to phylogensis, to be sure - is
>> to be culturally and politically impoverished. Most
>> preliteracy today is a political scandal, along with other forms of
>> impoverishment.
>>
>> A handful of billionaires are worth more in money terms than forty whole
>> countries. Read this, and employ those higher mental
>> functions!
>>
>> Colin
>>
>> Before acting on this email or opening any attachments you should read
>> the
>> Manchester
>> Metropolitan University's email disclaimer available on its website
>> http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer
>>>>> <ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org> 07/09/08 2:30 PM >>>
>>
>> Colin:
>> you wrote:
>>
>> We can 'converse' across the oceans, and
>> with the dead and the not-yet born, in ways that 'pre-literate' peoples
>> could not imagine. To enable the largest possible part of
>> humanity to have access to the fruits of literacy is, thus, to empower
>> them
>> socially, rather than to 'engineer' them.
>>
>>
>> I like the sentiment, I truely do, but I have met many so called
>> 'pre-literates' that have highly developed mental functions and carry
>> out
>> incredibly complex activities. This development is the ontogenetic
>> process. When you generalize to the vast digest of human literary
>> output
>> I
>> step out into the abyss and state this would be the phylogenetic
>> development of the human species and not an individual's ontogeny. Does
>> that make sense or do I float unsupported?
>>
>> eric
>>
>>
>>
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Received on Thu Jul 10 10:23 PDT 2008