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Reading vs Story
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From: uma at umakrishnaswami.com <uma>
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:22:56 -0600
At 12:28 PM 00 7/18/2004, Monica R. Edinger wrote:
I think you're right, and the symbolism of ideas comes in many more forms than written language. Nor does reading solve all social problems. E.g., a nation of unemployed readers would not be a good thing.
I don't think we're really disagreeing on this, but maybe these are two different aspects of the same problem, and they still have to do with who holds power and who doesn't. I'm not, BTW suggesting at all that there are "other" more perfect societies out there and they're that way because they value reading. Social realities everywhere are far more about the distribution of wealth than the distribution of print, but I think it's fair to say that the acquisition of print literacy is often seen as a way to gain a voice. That is not to say that other means of conveying story--traditional dance, music, theater, storytelling, are not literacies in themselves. In fact, increased print fluency, that allows people to enter a so?lled
"modern" employment stream, sometimes ends up eradicating these other arts, NTM less dominant languages, and that's certainly a cultural loss. And conversely, isn't that why those who want to save languages w/o a history of written form, are now rushing to transcribe them? No answers here, only questions. Although with globalization now practically a religious movement, I doubt such questions are going to get raised anywhere that it matters=(
Uma
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:22:56 -0600
At 12:28 PM 00 7/18/2004, Monica R. Edinger wrote:
I think you're right, and the symbolism of ideas comes in many more forms than written language. Nor does reading solve all social problems. E.g., a nation of unemployed readers would not be a good thing.
I don't think we're really disagreeing on this, but maybe these are two different aspects of the same problem, and they still have to do with who holds power and who doesn't. I'm not, BTW suggesting at all that there are "other" more perfect societies out there and they're that way because they value reading. Social realities everywhere are far more about the distribution of wealth than the distribution of print, but I think it's fair to say that the acquisition of print literacy is often seen as a way to gain a voice. That is not to say that other means of conveying story--traditional dance, music, theater, storytelling, are not literacies in themselves. In fact, increased print fluency, that allows people to enter a so?lled
"modern" employment stream, sometimes ends up eradicating these other arts, NTM less dominant languages, and that's certainly a cultural loss. And conversely, isn't that why those who want to save languages w/o a history of written form, are now rushing to transcribe them? No answers here, only questions. Although with globalization now practically a religious movement, I doubt such questions are going to get raised anywhere that it matters=(
Uma
-- Uma Krishnaswami Books, links for teachers and writers, FAQs, and South Asian children's lit resources at http://www.umakrishnaswami.com """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" What a heavy price one has to pay to be regarded as civilized. [Kasturba Gandhi, on wearing shoes]Received on Sun 18 Jul 2004 04:22:56 PM CDT
