Literacy and Globalization: Reading and Writing in Times of Social and Cultural Change

by Papen; Uta

• ISBN13: 9780415365048
• ISBN10: 041536504X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Using literacy practices in the newly independent post-apartheid Namibia as a lens through which to examine the effects of globalisation, this broad case study looks at issues surrounding tourism, state control and the new forces of consumerism. By placing literacy at the centre of an investigation into social and cultural change as experienced by individuals, Papen shows that in times of change, reading and writing are always implicated in structures of power and inequality. The book considers language practices that can exclude some members of Namibian society and also looks at the strategies used by local people to accommodate and even embrace the onward march of global English and the influx of foreign visitors, practices and modes of commerce and interaction.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
List of abbreviations	x
PART I Introduction and background	1	(44)
1 Literacy in Namibia: local and global dimensions of reading and writing	3	(13)
2 Introduction to the ethnographic context: Namibia 12 years after achieving independence	16	(11)
3 Studying literacy in Namibia: multiple methods and multiple roles	27	(18)
PART II Everyday uses of literacy: reading and writing at the workplace, in banks and shops	45	(48)
4 'Everything is in English': literacies of work and public life in Katutura and Windhoek	47	(16)
5 Banks, loans and invoices: bureaucratic literacy practices	63	(15)
6 Shopping without money: literacies of consumerism	78	(15)
PART III Literacy and tourism	93	(72)
7 Visit 'one of the most untamed and beautiful parts of wild Africa': introduction to literacy and tourism in Namibia	95	(17)
8 Signposts, flyers and brochures: promotional literacy practices	112	(13)
9 'Anmire Damara Cultural Village': the discourses of eco- and ethno-tourism	125	(15)
10 Face-to-Face Tours' experience with the Windhoek Municipality: meeting literacies	140	(15)
11 The consultant's report: a further example of meeting literacies	155	(10)
PART IV Conclusions: new literacies in new times	165	(30)
12 Learning new literacies: a social literacies perspective	167	(16)
13 Literacy, power and change: implications for the theory and practice of adult literacy	183	(12)
Notes	195	(3)
References	198	(13)
Index	211