aladinhislamp
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- Jul 4, 2010
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Thank you.
I have found in discussions on this forum the definition of literacy is far less than consistent.
My co-workers and I were discussing this just yesterday, and it is a fascinating and complex topic. On the surface, literacy seems like such a self-evident thing, but it *so* isn't! Here in the lower Mainland, there are many First Nations languages that don't have orthographic systems--at least not ones that are codified. But they are rich story-telling cultures, so from that standpoint, a person could be considered literate without the ability to read and write. In fact, it's only from an English-language (or some other dominant language) baseline that questions of literacy or illiteracy would come up in the first place. How would such cultures evaluate a native-English speaking person unfamiliar with their language?
I'm finding so much as I get older that I'm critically unpacking so many of the concepts I formerly thought I understood. From my POV, that can only be a good thing.