An introduction to this blog

This project seeks to shed light on the current discussion of the effects of literacy on social mobility despite of socioeconomic and racial marginalization. Since President Obama’s election, the media has claimed that we live in a “post-racial” society. They contend that race is no longer a force that creates privilege for the majority and disadvantage for the minority. They show Obama as an example that anyone with the chance of an education can pull themselves up by their bootstraps in spite of other oppressive factors. In a post-racial society, literacy is the great equalizer that eliminates environmental and societal factors to create a level playing field for upward social mobility. In my opinion, this is just the newest version of the literacy myth.

The concept of the literacy myth dates back to 1979 when Harvey J. Graff, in his book The Literacy Myth, challenged the assumption that literacy is they key to socioeconomic and political advancement of an individual and a society. This concept was problematized by Catherine Prendergast, who in Literacy and Racial Justice explains how literacy policies supposed to advance social justice (such as "No Child Left Behind") often fall short of their goals:

Current literacy policy tends... to be based now, as it has been for some time, on what literacy researchers call the “ideology” of literacy, the flawed but rhetorically seductive and seemingly deathless argument that literacy will guarantee equality of opportunity, moral growth, and financial security and ensure the democratic participation of all individuals in society, regardless of other factors. (4)

In this site, I plan to include interviews and information that analyze the role--both actual and perceived--of literacy in America. I hope to shed some light on how literacy acquisition actually affects adults who have lived their entire lives on the margins of society.