Decolonizing literacy: Mexican lives in the era of global capitalism

摘要

Literacy development as a social and cultural construct has long been linked to inequality in research scholarship. Illiteracy impedes not only practical advancement but serves to subjugate by devaluing otherwise capable and intelligent people, often handicapping them for a lifetime. In this book, Gregorio Hernandez-Zamora writes that Mexican literacy policies owe their heritage to a colonizing hegemonic influence. Consequently, even when literary reform in Mexico seeks to teach individuals to read, underlying forces that continue to reinforce illiteracy remain. The author argues that imperialism undermines and thwarts national and community literacy efforts, operating at the level of families and individuals, by serving not as obstacles but as an unstable foundation that cripples his brethren as they nevertheless persevere in stoic determination. Their struggle sometimes continues in the United States where they encounter other formidable barriers. Hernandez-Zamora reveals these themes throughout the book as a defining factor in individuals' lives.