I found last week’s reading by Akinnaso on how the context in which someone develops Literacy affects them and how sometimes it may even isolate one from their surroundings if is not already perceived as a cultural norm or ideal. Akinnasso mentions “becoming literate in a non-literate society”, and how this affected him. He also mentions how the questions he received from his father with regards to the Youruba people and how it could be the case that they would not be written in the Bible if they were active worshippers of the Christian Deity. Akinasso quips that he wished he could explain to his father at the time that every culture has its creation mythos and how this varies based on the times they were conceived.
That seemed very awkward to me. Not awkward in the way that it was written but awkward in the sense that it divides father and son in the way that it does. Between “literate” and non-literate individuals, value systems seem to change. It got me thinking about literacy as a cultural norm in our society versus others that do not value it in the sort of high-minded manner we do. I’m wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience to Akinasso in the sense that the more knowledgable they became via literacy, maybe it isolated them from family members?
To start off, I just want to say that the story of Akinnaso was a very rare story. I say this because he grew up in a near primitive tribe in Africa and somehow managed to work his way up through the ranks and eventually go to the Cal Berkeley here in the States. I think just looking at his situation, he was always bound to be isolated from his family just because he was a pure genius living among an African tribe. So in that sense, yes, literacy was going to isolate him from everyone else he was growing up with.
Growing up as a young boy in America, I was always out with dad at a young age just watching him as he worked around the house. Whatever he did I followed him whether it was cutting the grass or fixing some pipes that broke in our pool. I think it is a value that traditional America has instilled in us, sons should turn out to be just like their fathers. Of course this is not completely true and literacy does come into play here. As we discussed before, the more literate someone is, usually means the more opportunity and chances they will have as life unfolds. Highly selective colleges are a perfect example. The most literate and intelligent young students will be attracted to these places around the country and they will go there. This typically means they will be isolated from their families (considering they don’t live in the same town as their college). I do not think that literacy is the only contributing factor to this isolation, but I do think it plays a big role in it. I really don’t think it is literacys’ plan to drive a wedge between family members.
I kind of had the same experience with my father, as I spoke about in class one day.
My father grew up working half the day to help support his family of 8 siblings and 2 parents. Therefore, his education was not very involved and his vocabulary was not as well established as mine, especially when I reached high school and gained a lot of literacy knowledge.
I definitely feel as if this created a gap between my father and I. There are a lot of subjects in which he can not help me mostly because he just does not understand. He sometimes becomes frustrated and so do I.
So, to answer your question, I do believe that increased literacy can isolate people from their families, as in Akinnaso’s case. I have seen it happen to me personally and imagine other experienced the same thing.
Yes, I do believe that we can be isolated by gaining literacy. In one way, by educating ourselves even to the level of a high school education, and even more so with a college education, it gets harder and harder to see things from a layman’s perspective. In my personal experience of coming from India, I have come very far with learning and adapting to American culture. And in that, I feel as if I have created this wall between my extended family in India, and even my family here in America, who aren’t as integrated as I am. I think it’s all a balancing act, and every action we take has its tradeoffs. It may be that gaining literacy and that knowledge comes at a cost, the cost being some form of isolation from others. Although, I would like to hope that as we gain literacy, we are opening doors to a new communities that share in that literacy.