Critical Literacy: A Rastafari Perspective

Abstract

IntroductionReading the world always precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world . . . but by a certain form of rewriting. . . that is, of transforming by means of conscious practical work.1CURRENT UNDERSTANDINGS OF WHAT it means to be literate are based on a mechanistic approach where the reading of text is removed from the social and political context, rendered neutral and value-free. This is so even as we know that knowledge embedded in textbooks is value-laden, influenced by dominant social and cultural mores.2 At its core, literacy teaching paradigms are deployed in formal institutions of learning to serve as a conduit for the indoctrination of learners into the social, political and economic order of the ruling class.3 The resultant impact is that educators, in their quest to inculcate 'healthy' reading habits, continue to employ pedagogical tools that reproduce social stratification.4 In this way, teachers usher the oppressed into becoming headless bodies'^ that unquestioningly absorb the teachings of the educational institutions of the ruling class.A critical approach to literacy, however, sees the emancipatory potentialities of teaching learners how to engage in critical discussions about the larger sociopolitical implications of the hidden curriculum within various social institutions.6 This approach to literacy moves learners from being passive consumers of text7 and instead encourages the development of criticality and awareness of how the self is situated in a world where relations of power are woven into all social interactions. Teaching reading in this way equips learners with the critical thinking skills to identify the operation of capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy in the lives of the oppressed. When learners analyse text to identify and expose the covert ways in which social institutions reaffirm social inequities, and conversely how text in turn sustains the ideas deployed by social institutions, they are better able to expose the dominant political agenda and conjure material solutions to social problems. Teaching reading in this way continuously equips learners to challenge underlying power relations even as they are also exposed to the mechanics of reading surface-level text.Critical literacy advances an appreciation for the forms of meaning-making that learners bring from their multiple discursive backgrounds.8 It also creates space for alternative literacy systems (for example, indigenous sign systems) that do not fit within conventional paradigms, but that equally inform the multiple readings of the world. In Afro-indigenous communities, for instance, orature9 is central to engaging in meaning-making and knowledge production for individual and social transformation. The acquisition of knowledge is experiential, tied to the socio-cultural context, and occurs through various mediums. Visions, intuitions, spiritual ceremonies, informal gatherings and circles, music, fables and stories are the basis of how knowledge about the self, community and social world is produced. Learning is embedded in daily experiences and forms the core of how our communities read the world, and subsequently brings our nuanced worldviews to bear on the written word. Critical literacy is, thus, reframed as a process that is woven into our daily social interactions. Framing literacy as a social practice moves it beyond its traditional conceptualisation where it is rendered as something that is located in learners' heads as a set of skills, or as neutral text on paper.10In this essay, I explore how we can extend our imagination of literacy to include those linked to the socio-cultural practices of Afro-indigenous groups. To this end, I situate my analysis within New Literacy theoreticians' conceptualisation of literacy. As was mentioned above, New Literacy positions literacy as a social practice that is context-specific, learner-centred and that connects learners' lived experiences and identities to the process of meaning-making. …