Decolonizing Literacy: Mexican Lives in the Era of Global Capitalism (Critical Language and Literacy Studies, Volume 8)

236 Pages·2010·0.8 MB·English

by  Gregorio Hernandez-Zamora

Decolonizing Literacy
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CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY STUDIES
Series Editors: Professor Vaidehi Ramanathan, University of California, USA, Professor
Bonny Norton, University of British Columbia, Canada and Professor Alastair
Pennycook, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Critical Language and Literacy Studies is an international series that encourages
monographs directly addressing issues of power (its f ows, inequities, distributions,
trajectories) in a variety of language- and literacy-related realms. The aim with this
series is twofold: (1) to cultivate scholarship that openly engages with social, political,
and historical dimensions in language and literacy studies, and (2) to widen disciplinary
horizons by encouraging new work on topics that have received little focus (see below
for partial list of subject areas) and that use innovative theoretical frameworks.
Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be
found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual
Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.
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CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY STUDIES
Series Editors: Vaidehi Ramanathan, Bonny Norton
and Alastair Pennycook
Decolonizing Literacy
Mexican Lives in the Era of
Global Capitalism
Gregorio Hernandez-Zamora
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Buffalo • Toronto
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Hernandez-Zamora, Gregorio.
Decolonizing Literacy: Mexican Lives in the Era of Global Capitalism/Gregorio
Hernandez-Zamora.
Critical Language and Literacy Studies
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Literacy--Mexico. 2. Literacy--United States. 3. Literacy--Economic aspects.
4. Mexicans--Social conditions. 5. Mexicans--United States--Social conditions. I. Title.
LC155.M5H47 2010
302.2’2440972n-dc22 2010005055
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-263-4 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-262-7 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA.
Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario, M3H 5T8, Canada.
Copyright © 2010 Gregorio Hernandez-Zamora.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Part 1: Winds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Against the Winds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Economic Collapse and Literacy Agendas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Colonizing Representations of the ‘Illiterate’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Def ning Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Key Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Postcolonial Subjects: Imperfect Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Everyday Life Glocal Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Global Citizens or Global Outcasts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
History in Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Outline of Chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 The Un-Making of the Illiterate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
‘Introverted’ and ‘Extroverted’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Colonial Creation of the Illiterate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Decolonizing Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Decolonizing Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Citizenship and Literacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Inside the Mexican Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Part 2: Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3 Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Saul and Chela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Learning from Saul’s Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Sof a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Learning from Sof a’s Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
v
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vi Decolonizing Literacy
Alma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Learning from Alma’s Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4 Transnationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Laura. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Learning from Laura’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Pablo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Learning from Pablo’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5 Survivors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Paula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Learning from Paula’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Felipe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Learning from Felipe’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Part 3: Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
6 Literacy Politics and Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Few People, Pervasive Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
‘Old’ Practices in the WWW Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Overcoming a Naïve Worldview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Challenging Classif catory Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
What Is ‘Success’ in Language and Literacy Learning? . . . . . . . . 186
Colonizing Language and Literacy Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7 Decolonizing Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
White Minds, Brown Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Romanticized Poverty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Isolated Individuals versus Concentrated Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Education for Voice and Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Decolonizing Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my Berkeley classmate (current UC Davis professor),
Julia Menard-Warwick for encouraging this book project, as well as for her
continued mentorship and assistance in linguistic and academic matters
via email over the years. I am also very grateful to the editors of the Critical
Language and Literacy Studies series of Multilingual Matters: Vaidehi
Ramanathan, Bonny Norton and Alastair Pennycook, who offered me
valuable revision suggestions on bibliographic, conceptual and organiza-
tion aspects of the book. I especially thank Vai Ramanathan, for her kind
and helpful feedback and encouragement all along the way.
Additionally, I would like to thank my professors and fellow students
at University of California Berkeley, for their assistance and guidance in
the initial stages of my research. First, thanks to Glynda Hull, my advisor
at Berkeley, who inspired, encouraged, and guided me throughout the
intricate paths of the US academia. Also thanks to Anne H. Dyson for
offering invaluable mentorship and scaffolding in matters of literacy
theory and research (thanks Glynda and Anne for practicing as teachers
what you preach as scholars). Also thanks to Rick Kern and Lilly Wong
Fillmore for revising and commenting on my initial work. My life at
Berkeley would haven’t been possible without the support and encour-
agement of my fellow students Julia Menard-Warwick, Fina Carpena,
Marcelo Villagomez, Karin Zotzmann, Marco Bravo, Deb Palmer, Jessica
Zacher, Andrea Dyrness, Sawako Suzuki, Dafney Blanca Dabach, Irene
Fernandez, Monika Hachiya and Anne Whiteside, among others . . .
As a post-doctoral fellow at The Center for the Americas in Vanderbilt
University, I found also wonderful colleagues and fellows who supported
and encouraged my research with Mexican immigrants, and offered invalu-
able advice and friendship. Special thanks go to Vera Kutzinsky and Robert
Jiménez, who made it possible my stay at The Center for the Americas. My
gratitude also to my Nashville colleagues and friends Giorleny Altamirano,
Santiago Khalil, Anja Becker, Brad Teague, Stella Flores, Juan Canedo and
Pamela Hull to whom I express my sincere gratitude. And special thanks
vii
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viii Decolonizing Literacy
and forever hugs go to my Mexican amigos and paisanos Pancho, Irma,
Erandi, and their families, who made us feel at home in Nashville: thanks
from me and my family.
Back in Mexico, I am in debt with the scholars that encouraged and guided
me as I found my way in the f eld of educational research: Rosa Nidia Buenf l
advised and introduced me to the f eld of discourse and education; Emilia
Ferreiro, Alejandra Pellicer, Miguel Angel Vargas, Bety Rodriguez and Rocio
Vargas inspired and supported my initiation in the f eld of literacy research.
I also thank Justa Ezpeleta, for encouraging and supporting my doctorate
pursuits and applications. Thanks also to the adult education specialists in
Mexico who assisted me with valuable information, opinions and stories:
Ana Deltoro, Claudia Flores, Mercedes Ruiz, Tere Espinosa and Rocío
Medina. Additionally, I am indebted to those who offered me solidarity,
friendship, moral and f nancial support without which I would have not
survived for so many years in the US and Mexico: MariCarmen González
Videgaray, Rubén Romero, Angel Cabellos, Jorge Ocaña (†), Estela Ramírez,
Rosi Quesada, Diego Lizarazo, Alma Carrasco, Sergio Montes, Paty Novela,
Jorge Vaca, Margarita Castillo León, Rodolfo Ramirez, Claudia Bernaldez,
Rosamaria Ramirez, Alejandro Canales, Mercedes Ruiz, Tere Barragán, Gema
Jara, Soledad and Francisco Deceano . . .
The research and writing of this book was possible thanks to the f nancial,
logistic, and even emotional support in different stages by the following
a gencies and institutions in Mexico and the US: CONACYT; COMEXUS;
Fulbright and McArthur-Ford-Hewlett programs (special thanks to Kate
Leyva and Sandra Cervera); Institute of International Education (Mexico City,
New York and San Francisco off ces); International House, Berkeley (special
thanks to Irene Fernandez); UC-MEXUS (thanks to Marlene de la Cruz and
Christina Schneider); and GSE-UC Berkeley (thanks to Ilka Williams).
I am totally in debt to the workers in Mexico and the US who have gen-
erously revealed their lives, and shared stories, thoughts, and meals with
me over the last 10 years: Alicia, Soledad, Agustina, Beto, Sergio, Chuy,
Paty, Feliciano, Pancho, Irma, Ofelia, Ricardo, Senovia, Rosario, Suriel,
Carlos, Irineo, Jaime, Lucia, Judith, Federico, Agustin, Rebeca, Erandi,
Ismael, Sandra … and many others whose stories and names I could not
include here due to space limitations.
Last but not the least, my gratitude to the members of my families,
without whose endless cariño and support I couldn’t have gotten to this
point: my little daughter Isali and my wife Rocio (always here, sometimes
there); my sister Alicia and her funny family (Lucy, Miros and Hansel); the
big Medinas family; and, of course, the Hernandez-Zamoras.
Apologies to all those who have been with me over the years and whose
names I have failed to mention.
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Preface
While it is predominantly about the problem of ‘the political’ and how
issues regarding literacies are intricately tied to it, this volume by
Gregorio Hernandez-Zamora addresses a range of crucial concerns,
including how we think about the political in the context of literacies,
the conditions under which authoritarian policies come into play, contexts
in which they assume legitimacy, and ways in which strictures are coun-
tered and agencies d isplayed. It is also both an argument for understand-
ing and approaching these connections, and means of conceptua lizing
what is at stake when considering them. The central issues concern how
individuals attempt to understand the violence and limitations of the
socially sanctioned political ideas and institutions they have inherited –
colonial, patriarchal, religious – and work to both live with and trans-
form their lives through literacy, despite them. These emerge through
some key topical concerns in Hernandez-Zamora’s chapters that engage
with notions of citizenship, transnationalism and agency.
Situating these concerns in the Mexican community in which he was
raised, Hernandez-Zamora aligns himself with researchers who seek to
address ‘the here and now’, and he does this through in-depth, dense
investigations of the lives of several individuals (Saul, Chela, Sof a, Alma,
Laura, Pablo, Paula and Felipe) who grapple with that potent combination
of poverty, indigeneity and colonialism. Anthropology has certainly in its
different iterations addressed concerns relating to the ‘voice of the colo-
nized’, including how indigenous peoples come to know or get known by
colonizing tropes that emphasized the ‘different’ and the ‘exotic’ through
very particular modalities of knowledge making, categorizing, comparing
and translating. These ways of knowing were not only predicated upon
the profound need to govern and rule the metropolis, but also for the
metropolis to know themselves in ways – largely negative – that would
make governance work smoothly. These internalized negative self-images
are the very ones disrupted by Hernandez-Zamora himself and the voices
of the colonized that he brings our attention to.
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