"The Ethnography of Literacy"

Rosie Caldwell
Professor M. Boland
English 329


Schwed, John. “The Ethnography of Literacy.” Cushman, Ellen et al, eds. Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2001.


In John Szwed's piece "The Ethnography of Literacy," the framework of literacy was described in all of its complexities. Literacy cannot be simply defined, but rather viewed and considered from the standpoint of "text, context, function, participants, and motivation" (423). Szwed considers all of the different venues in which people can exercise their reading and writing skills and apply their knowledge to their own social or personal context. The author divides his argument into two headings that really help create a theoretical framework for the meaning of literacy. These headings are; "Texts: What is it that people read and write?" and "Function and context: Why and under what circumstances is reading and writing done?" Both of these questions are extremely helpful when considering how we should go about defining literacy and the relevance within the real world.

Indeed, being literate is not just reading classical literature assigned by teachers and professors; it is reading "handbills, signs graffiti, sheet music, junk mail, cereal boxes, captions on television, gambling slips and racing tip sheets, juke-box labels, and pornography" (424). Literacy and all that it entails, should be viewed in terms of social context and relevance: "that is, the role these abilities play in social life; the varieties of reading and writing available for choice; the contexts for their performance; and the manner in which they are interpreted and tested, not by experts, but by ordinary people in ordinary activities" (422). The implementation of basic reading and writing skills gives more shape to an individual's level of literacy. Szwed's argument can be neatly summed up with the idea that "assumptions are made in educational institutions about the literacy needs of individual students which seem not to be borne out by the students' day-to-day lives. And it is this relationship between school and the outside world that I think must be observed, studied and highlighted" (427).

This chapter really lends some insight on how complex literacy and all of the different ways we can define it and better understand what is involved and etc. The level of literacy varies from one person to another, but it is important to understand that literacy is relevant to an individual's situation and how they apply it and use it to their benefit. It is important to realize that literacy is as simple as being able to read and write, even though those are both key elements. We should instead see that," we must come to terms with the lives of people without patronizing them or falling in to what can become sociology of pathos" (427). We should realize that "reading and writing as activities having consequences in (and being affected by) family life, work patters, economic conditions, patters of leisure, and a complex of other factors" (428). Considering these different elements helps all of us define literacy.