Searching for Literacy: The Social and Intellectual Origins of Literacy Studies

Abstract

Based on a critical historical, institutional, and comparative approach, this article discusses the origins of Literacy Studies and their implications for the current debate on the subject. Addressing the meanings that literacy acquires during different time periods, especially the beliefs with which it is associated since at least the Renaissance, the paper addresses false dichotomies and institutional locations referred to by different disciplines and the beliefs and actions related to them. Associated with notions of progress, civilization and social control, literacy is in permanent crisis, which contributes to calls for interdisciplinary studies. Putting into question such terms as written culture and the place of academic disciplines, the article calls for new questions to the advancement of the area.