In between faces: the illiterate beyond the lacks

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991465

This article proposes a reflection on illiteracy conducted using the auto-ethnographic research method based on a closer look at Alzira, a person who has many languages but, labeled as illiterate, is socially considered for what she lacks. Her culture and knowledge are relegated to the periphery. Within these discussions is the relationship between the learning of reading and writing as a watershed among those socially valued as cults, bringing such discussion from the narrative of the life history of one of the authors. It searches theoretical support in authors such as Levinas, Nunes, and Freire - theorists who have contributed to the expansion of the discussions presented in order to advance in the understanding of the senses of illiteracy and literacy, from the appreciation of the other from their own history, going beyond social labels that feature illiterate people as inferior. The paper presents an important challenge: to look at the human subject through their own words. That is why the other is face, pure language and unspeakable, when viewed in their characteristic of infinity. They are in a privileged place compared with myself; they come before me, and rightfully so, are my masters. It is the very other who teaches me to look at them.

Keywords: Illiteracy, Culture, Life story, Education.