The Dark Side of Literacy

Most of us assume that LITERACY is a good thing.  But have we ever thought about what exactly literacy means and what its harmful effects may be?  The following articles are offered to provoke deeper thinking around the campaign of Eradicating Illiteracy (or Literacy for All).

Introduction to The Dark Side of Literacy  

• “Who Is Illiterate?” – Rosa Maria Torres, 1991.

• ”An Illiterate’s Declaration to the Literacy Preacher” – Dayal Chand Soni, 1998.

• “Image/Word” in The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between World and Image– by Leonard Shlain.  New York: Penguin, 1998.

• "Why Words Are Biotic: Knowledges Vanish When Languages Die" - Anushka Meenakshi and Proteek Dey, 2002.

• "Taming the Horror: Overcoming the Reign of the Educated Literacies" - Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Suri Prakash, 1998.

• “How to Eradicate Illiteracy without Eradicating Illiterates?” – Munir Fasheh, 2002.

• Propaganda - Jacques Ellul, 1973.

• “From a Pedagogy for Liberation to Liberation from Pedagogy” – Dana Stuchul, Gustavo Esteva, and Madhu Suri Prakash, 2002.

Additional articles of interest:

Say No More - Jack Hitt, 2004.