Women and Literacy:

Issues of race, class, and culture

An international conference on women and literacy hosted by the Center for the Study of Adult Literacy at Georgia State University was held in Atlanta on January 22- 24, 2001, co-sponsored by Laubach Literacy Action and by The Centre for Literacy of Quebec. Women from the US, Canada, Caribbean and other countries continued discussions begun at previous conferences over the past four years, with a focus on race, class and culture as factors that shape literacy. These notes from presentations at the opening session reflect the textured dialogue as the panelists drew on concrete personal experience as well as formal research to enlarge a collective understanding of how these factors work in our lives and why they are generally ignored in public policy. [LS]

Opening comments by:

Vanessa Sheared, Associate Dean, College of Education, San Francisco State University

On welfare reform and African-American women

Vanessa Sheared takes her point of departure from what she calls her own “miseducation” as a black woman, referring to a 1933 book by Carter Woodson entitled The Miseducation of the Negro. Woodson’s thesis was that inferiority taught in the classroom killed the aspirations of black children.

As the child of a welfare mother, Sheared swore that she would never be on welfare herself, yet has had to go on twice during her life. Giving a brief history of welfare in the US, she reminded listeners that welfare was originally intended for white women, and that until the 1960s, laws prevented African-American women from getting it. How, then, she asked, have we come to the present when welfare is identified with black single mothers? Sheared underlined how a language of deficit is used to shape public opinion, for example, in using the term ”single parent” rather than “family.” She noted how welfare data are usually cited in terms of numbers getting off welfare, but how rarely policy makers look at what happened to these women. The system works against women ever really moving out of poverty. If middle class women can work and raise families, why should women on welfare not be able to do the same? Sheared argues that welfare reform has mainly pushed women into jobs that perpetuate poverty. She asks us to examine our own histories, not just those of recipients of assistance. The system needs to be dismantled, Sheared suggests, if we hope to change the reality for most of the women caught in the welfare/poverty cycle. These issues have to be taken into account in curriculum as well. Whose needs are we serving? Sheared asks. Literacy cannot be addressed in isolation from these larger questions.

Elizabeth Hayes, Researcher, University of Wisconsin

On being a “white ally”

Coming from a state where welfare reform has driven many women off welfare and out of literacy classes, Elizabeth Hayes offered some insight into the tensions and uncertainties that arise from being a white academic engaged in research with black welfare recipients in Milwaukee. Hayes described the “work first” philosophy as a form of oppression. Most of us, she notes, have fallen into careers. Yet, we expect that women in welfare programs follow a model “plan” in career choice. She spoke of the challenge of letting go of our attachment to being colour-blind and of avoiding generalizations. Hayes cautions on the persistent tendency to generalize: “Oh, you white women like…”; “Oh, you black women like…” She defines being colour-blind as a white liberal assumption that we can work with people of any race and ignore the racial tensions, or deny the privilege that comes with middle-class whiteness. Hayes feels that only in acknowledging racial tensions, can we then work together. We have to keep reflecting on the diversity in every racial group. It is so easy, she says, to take on the role of white ally and misrepresent the complexity. “All of us, despite our colour, can promote racism.”

Nancy Cooper, AlphaPlus Centre, Toronto

On reclaiming language and culture

Nancy Cooper’s mother was native. But Cooper, raised Irish working class, did not learn about her heritage until she went to university. Part of a generation of natives who went through Canadian government-funded residential schooling, her mother had been schooled to be ashamed of who she was and had chosen not to raise her own children as native. Shame, Cooper says, was used to eradicate culture. However, Cooper speaks as part of a generation reclaiming language and culture. Aboriginal communities across Canada are creating “culture-based literacy,” the principles of which respect the spirit and culture of the people while recognizing the need to work in the dominant culture. It values the knowledge of learners. Cooper described some of the initiatives through which this process is being traced. They include the native Ningwakwe Learning Press, a national aboriginal design committee developing a national organization, and provincial efforts such the Ontario Alpharoute project that is creating a culture–based on-line learning environment.

Julie Perilla, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University

On culture, family violence and critical literacy

Julie Perilla is a privileged Latina who feels a responsibility to use the privilege of her education in her own community. She does this through her work with families and violence. Her status as a grandmother gives her a respect that would not be accorded to a young woman. If you talk about women in Latina culture, Perilla notes, you talk about family, extended family. She sees domestic violence as a violation of human rights with close similarities to terrorism in the creation of a psychological and physical atmosphere of intimidation from which there appears to be no escape. Culture, she says, has been used too often as a way to justify violence. Perilla also questions our models in dealing with victims of violence. We say “We’ll show you,” “We’ll rescue you,” “This is what you should do…” “You have to decide to do it..” An alternative, she suggest, is to use a Freirian approach to help the victim understand the environment and his/her own history, to move toward critical consciousness. Taking a participatory approach in her own community, Perilla has worked for eleven years with a group of women and children; after a few years, the women wanted to know why they were not working with the men, so she began a men’s group. Perilla describes an egalitarian relationship between teacher and student as fellow journeyers; she walks with her, supports her, helps her see her options, understand the laws and identify resources. This is transformative literacy.

Aubra Love, Pastor, Director of Black Church and Domestic Violence Program
United Church, Atlanta

On food circulars as tools for liberation

Aubra Love had listeners puzzled when she placed a stack of food circulars on every table. But like great pastors everywhere, she soon made her point through a well-told tale. Love shared the poignant story of a friend whose mother never helped them with their homework when they went to her house after school. One day, her friend confided that her mother couldn’t read or write and that her father held tight control. Love’s own mother was an ABE instructor who had also written a dissertation on racial discrimination in Boston schools. When she heard about the friend’s mother, she devised a way to teach the woman how to read. She created a neighbourhood Discount Grocery Club with a group of women combing the food circulars for bargains. All the husband knew was that his wife and her friends were finding ways to save him money on the weekly groceries. Over time, the neighbour learned to read. The moral of the story — the tools of liberation are all around us. A great teacher knows how to use them. [See BOX] Pastor Love was not being simplistic or naïve. She wanted to illustrate the difficulties of cross-cultural education that often causes humiliation. In her example, she says the bonds of race and community were necessary to the learning. From the perspective of the black community, she explained, a woman leaving her community for education might find herself branded a traitor. On another note, Love observed that domestic violence can also manifest itself in marital rape and family size, often a means of control in poorly educated families. Referring to Jenny Horsman’s definition of oppression as an attack on the body, Love concluded that any form of oppression makes it difficult for someone not to be “too scared to learn.”

Work on women and literacy at The Center for the Study of Adult Literacy, Georgia State University, can be found at www.gsu.edu/~wwwcoe/centers/csal.html