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Theorizing literacy, politics and social process: Revisiting maktab literacy in Iran in search of a critical paradigm
Abstract
Literacy as a social practice is integrally linked with social, economic and political institutions and processes. As such, it has a material base which is fundamentally constituted in power relations. Literacy is therefore interwoven with the text and context of everyday living in which multi-levelled meanings are organically produced at both individual and societal level. This paper argues that if language thus mediates social reality, then it follows that literacy defined as a social practice cannot really be addressed as a reified, neutral activity but that it should take account of the social, cultural and political processes in which literacy practices are embedded. Drawing on the work of key writers within the field, the paper foregrounds the primary role of the state in defining the forms and levels of literacy required and made available at particular moments within society. In a case-study of the social construction of literacy meanings in pre-revolutionary Iran, it explores the view that the discourse about societal literacy levels has historically constituted a key terrain in which the struggle for control over meaning has taken place. This struggle, it is argued, sets the interests of the state to maintain ideological and political control over the production of knowledge within the culture and society over and against the needs identified by the individual for personal development, empowerment and liberation. In an overall sense, the paper examines existing theoretical perspectives on societal literacy programmes in terms of the scope that they provide for analyses that encompass the multi-levelled power relations that shape and influence dominant discourses on the relative value of literacy for both the individual and society.
... Of the articles listed in Appendix I, those by Husen (1991) and Rassool (1995) list works by Foucault in their reference lists but make no reference to them in the text. Four articles make only passing reference to works by Foucault (Aviram, 1993;Clark, 1993;Mayo, 1995;Watson, 1998) Our reading of the remainder of the articles indicates to us that they either deploy the concepts of power, discourse, the self and space in a substantive way or else employ one of the Foucaultian methods of archaeology, genealogy or problematisation. ...
Various authors have charted the changing and intertwined emphases in comparative education over the last four decades, including modernisation and development, socially critical and neo-Marxist perspectives, and ethnography and phenomenology. Ideas from postpositivist thinking—postmodernism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism—have been particularly challenging to comparative education, because they disrupt the power structures that imbue much of comparative education and challenge the metanarratives of progress, modernity, dominance and subordination that have been the life blood of the major sets of ideas in the field. In order to examine in part the way in which comparative education is opening itself up to these challenging paradigms, we examine the shifts, developments and omissions in the use of poststructural theoretical frameworks and methodologies in comparative education in the period 1991–1999 and provide a constructive contribution to the debates about the future directions of comparative education in a rapidly internationalising and globalising world.
This study analyzes the connections among multilingual language practices, multilingual literacy practices, and social identities in two Sunni madrassahs in Mauritius. The study is framed by sociolinguistic and poststructuralist perspectives on language and identity, and social practice views of literacy. Data collection and analysis involved observations, interviews, and the analysis of written documents. In a national context that has long rejected Mauritian Creole as a language of education and literacy, the madrassah is nonetheless a place where both oral and written Mauritian Creole, among other languages, is used to religiously educate the children. The study revealed that the madrassah is a site where multilingual, multiliterate, and multiscriptural practices are used as resources to provide religious instruction, while at the same time being a place where fluid identities are shaped and negotiated through these resources. These findings suggest that dichotomies between institutionalized and local vernacular literacies and between religious and secular identities do not reflect the complexity of identities being constituted and expressed at the observed madrassahs. Speakers and readers may use multiple oral and written codes to negotiate social identities, with some identities being more negotiable than others.
تحلل هذه الدراسة العلاقات بين ممارسات اللغة المتعددة الألسن، ممارسات القراءة والكتابة المتعددة الألسن والهوايات في مدرستين دينيتين في جزر موريشيوس. هذه الدراسة في إطار وجهات نظر سوسيولغوية وما بعد البنيوية حول اللغة والهوية وآراء الممارسة الاجتماعية لتعليم القراءة والكتابة. تضمن جمع البيانات والتحليل ملاحظات ومقابلات، وتحليل الوثائق المكتوبة. في إطار سياق وطني, رُفض "الكريول" الموريشي لمدة طويلة كلغة للتعليم والقراءة والكتابة، مع أن المدرسة الدينية تعتبر مكانا، حيث نجد أن "الكريول الموريشي" المكتوب والشفوي؛ إضافة إلى لغات أخرى، يُستعمل دينيا من أجل تعليم وتربية الأطفال. كشفت الدراسة أن المدرسة الدينية مكان تُستخدم فيه ممارسات تعدد اللغات وتعدد القراءة والكتابة وتعدد الديانات كمورد لتوفير التعليم الديني، بيد أنها تعتبر في الوقت نفسه مكانا تُشكَل وتتحاور فيه الهويات السائلة من خلال هذه الموارد. تشير هذه النتائج على أن الانقسامات بين القراءة والكتابة المؤكدة على النظام واللغة العامية المحلية، وبين الهويات الدينية والدنيوية لا تعكس الطابع المعقد للهويات المشكّلة والمعرب عنها في المدارس الدينية قيد الملاحظة. قد يستخدم المتكلمون والقراء رموزا شفوية وخطية متعددة من أجل التعبير عن هويات اجتماعية، مع كون بعض الهويات أكثر تداولا من غيرها.
本研究分析在毛里求斯两所逊尼派回教学校里，多语种的语言实践、多语种的读写文化实践，以及身份认同之间的关系。研究的理论框架，是以社会语言学与后现代主义之视角来观察语言和身份认同，并以社会实践的观点来看待读写文化。研究资料的收集与分析，包括有观察、访谈及书面文件资料分析。在毛里求斯国内，毛里求斯克里奥尔语一直被拒绝成为一种教育与读写语言，尽管如此，在回教学校里，其他语言及毛里求斯克里奥尔语的口语及书面，却用来对儿童进行宗教知识教育。本研究显示，回教学校是一个使用多种语言、多模态读写文化及多元圣经实践作为资源来提供宗教教学的地方，同时，也是一个透过这些资源来塑造及商定易变的身份认同的地方。这些研究结果更显示，以二分法的视角来把读写文化分看成制度化与地方性的读写文化，把身份认同分看成宗教与世俗的身份认同，并不能反映出在回教学校里所观察到有关身份认同在形成及表达过程中的复杂性。讲话者或阅读者，可以使用多种口头语和书面语的语言法则来商定社会身份认同，而某些社会身份认同比其他的社会身份认同较为容易协商。
Cette étude analyse les relations entre des pratiques de langue multiples, des pratiques de littératie multiples et des identités dans deux madrassas sunnites de l'île Maurice. L'étude a été effectuée dans une perspective sociolinguistique et post‐structuraliste du langage et de l'identité, et avec une conception de la littératie comme pratique sociale. La collecte des données et l'analyse comportent des observations, des entretiens et l'analyse de documents écrits. Dans un contexte national qui a longtemps rejeté le créole mauritien comme langue d'enseignement et de littératie, la madrassa est néanmoins un lieu où le créole mauricien, tant oral qu'écrit, est utilisé parmi d'autres langues pour l'instruction religieuse des enfants. L'étude a montré que la madrassa est un lieu où l'on recourt à des pratiques multilingues et à des pratiques de lecture et d'écriture plurielles comme ressources pour l'instruction religieuse, tout en étant un lieu où on sont façonnées des identités fluides, négociées à partir de ces ressources. Ces résultats suggèrent que les dichotomies entre des littératies institutionnelles et des littératies locales vernaculaires, et entre des identités religieuses et laïques ne reflètent pas la complexité des identités qui se construisent et s'expriment dans les madrassas observées. Les locuteurs et les lecteurs peuvent utiliser de multiples codes à l'oral et à l'écrit pour négocier les identités sociales, sachant que quelques identités sont plus négociables que les autres.
Исследователи анализируют взаимосвязи между многоязычием как образом жизни, полиязычной грамотностью и самоидентификацией в двух суннитских медресе на острове Маврикий. Исследование языка и становления личности велось в рамках социолингвистической и пост‐структуралистской парадигм, а грамотность рассматривалась как социальная практика. Сбор данных происходил в режиме наблюдения и интервью, помимо этого были проанализированы письменные документы. В этой стране мавританский креольский язык долгое время не признавался в системе образования, а его знание не считалось признаком грамотности. Тем не менее, в медресе на этом языке – наряду с другими – и говорят и пишут. Это основный язык религиозного воспитания детей. Исследование показало, что медресе – то место, где царит многоязычие и практикуется устная и письменная полиграмотность, причем именно эти ресурсы и являются главным фактором при формировании и структурировании еще неокрепшей личности. Полученные результаты подсказывают, что дихотомия между институциональной и местной народной грамотностью, а также дихотомия между религиозной и светской самоидентификацией не отражают всей сложности и многомерности процесса становления личности, наблюдаемого в медресе. При чтении и беседе учащиеся используют разнообразные устные и письменные коды, сигнализируя о собственной идентичности, причем отдельные аспекты их социального «Я» объясняются и воспринимаются легче, нежели другие.
Este estudio analiza las conexiones entre las prácticas lingüísticas plurilingües, las prácticas de alfabetización plurilingües y la identidad en dos escuelas sunís (madrassahs) en Mauricio. El estudio sigue un punto de vista sociolingüístico y post‐estructural del idioma y la identidad, y la perspectiva de las prácticas sociales sobre la alfabetización. La colección y el análisis de los datos se hicieron por medio de observaciones, entrevistas y el análisis de documentos escritos. En un contexto nacional que siempre ha rechazado la lengua criolla de Mauricio como idioma para la educación y la alfabetización, en dichas escuelas (madrassahs) a menudo se educa a los niños tanto en el criollo oral como el escrito, además de otros idiomas. Se encontró que estas escuelas son un lugar donde se usan prácticas plurilingües, de multimedia y multireligiosas como recursos para la instrucción religiosa a la vez que se forman y negocian identidades flexibles por medio de dichos recursos. Los resultados sugieren que las dicotomías entre las competencias del vernáculo y las institucionalizadas, y entre las religiosas y las identidades seculares no reflejan las complejidades de las identidades que se van construyendo y expresando en las escuelas (madrassahs) estudiadas. Los hablantes y los lectores pueden usar múltiples códigos orales y escritos para negociar identidades sociales, siendo algunas identidades más negociables que otras.
This study of adult literacy education in Thailand analyses the ways in which the Thai state has historically shaped adult literacy education policies for development. For the authoritarian Thai state of the 1940s and 1950s, literacy education was a means of promoting nationalism through an imagined community of Thai citizens. For the developmentalist state of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, literacy education was the means to create a new Thai working class for industrial capitalism and export-oriented growth. For the liberal democratic state of the 1990s, literacy education was re-oriented toward a post-Fordist economy. Most recently, in the wake of the 1997 economic crisis and subsequent IMF and ADB ‘structural adjustment’ policies, state educational policies have shifted to an emphasis on fiscal economics over education. While state ideologies of educational policy are dominant in this historical narrative, they also possess internal contradictions contested by popular movements and social groups outside dominant classes. Literacy education in Thailand is, as such, not only the site of production and reproduction of state ideologies, but also of struggles over their meaning. Thus we find within the authoritarian nationalism of the 1940s and 1950s, a movement for popular democracy through literacy education born of the 1932 Revolution; within the work-oriented literacy programs of the 1970s, a trend towards broader community development inspired by the student revolution of October 1973; and within the neoliberal Thai state's embrace of globalization, a call for further democratization of educational opportunities first promoted by the May 1992 uprising and then embodied in the new Constitution of 1997 and the Education Act of 1999.
The distinction between speaking an oral language and speaking a written language is applied to different cultural groups in the United States and Africa. It is shown that these two patterns of language use systematically related to different educational methods and to different courses of cognitive development.
This paper focuses on adult literacy as a language issue, identifying four areas of contemporary change: the spread of a small number of world languages; the position of dialects, Creoles and other varieties of language; the choice of language for education and for official life; the rate at which languages of the world are disappearing. The role of literacy is ambiguous in all these changes and two opposing trends are identified: the globalisation of literacy and the diversification of literacy.
A compelling collection by one of the pioneers of revisionist approaches to the history of literacy in North America and Europe, The Labyrinths of Literacy offers original and controversial views on the relation of literacy to society, leading the way for scholars and citizens who are willing to question the importance and function of literacy in the development of society today.
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