Grassroots Literacy

Jan Blommaert is Distinguished Professor of Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, as well as Professor of Linguistic Anthropology at Tilburg University. His publications include Debating Diversity (co-author, Routledge, 1998), Language Ideological Debates (editor, 1999) and Discourse: A Critical Introduction (author, 2005).

• Table of ContentsPrefacePART 1: GRASSROOTS LITERACY1. Introduction: Grassroots literacy and literacy regimes1.1. Yes I can write1.2. Writing1.3. Grassroots literacy1.4. Ethnographies of text1.5. GlobalizationPART 2: THE LIVES OF JULIEN2. Three lives for Mrs Arens2.1. Three versions of a life2.2. Writing with an accent2.3. Julien’s life: a storyline2.4. Writing (as) a (way of) life2.5. Context and pretext3. Genres and repertoires3.1. Resources3.2. On genre3.3. Emerging genres in an emerging tradition3.4. Histories and letters3.5. The repertoire3.6. The misfit4. Writing, remembering and being4.1. Emerging genres, emerging lives4.2. Writing and remembering4.3. Who is Julien?4.4. Textuality and subjectivityPART 3: TSHIBUMBA THE HISTORIAN5. Tshibumba: Artist, painter, historian5.1. Paintings, conversations, and texts5.2. Tshibumba Kanda Matulu5.3. The storyline6. The aesthetics of grassroots literacy6.1. Writing as drawing6.2. Tshibumba’s writing and drawing6.3. Tshibumba’s voice6.4. A disciplined voice7. Sources as resources7.1. The archive again7.2. A national history with local resources7.3. Tshibumba’s voices8. The grassroots historian’s craft8.1. Tshibumba’s historiographic methodology8.2. Grassroots historiography and popular consciousness8.3. Artist, painter, grassroots historianPART 4: JULIEN, TSHIBUMBA AND BEYOND9. Reflections9.1. Lives, literacy, subjectivity9.2. The skeleton of literacy practices9.3. Grassroots literacy in globalization9.4. History from below9.5. ConclusionNOTES & REFERENCES