Literacy and the Underdeveloped Nations

Abstract

The author's on-the-spot investigation of Cuba's literacy work (1976, 1977) convinces him that the nation can offer some very dramatic and important lessons to our own society. The differences between our situations are real, but the points of similarity and common goals are more significant. Drawing on his recent research into adult literacy programs in the United States and summarizing the conclusions of his most recent book (Prisoners of Silence, Continuum Books, 1980), he proposes a North American “mobilization” approach which resembles the Cuban undertaking in two key respects: first, in a primary reliance upon young people now in college and secondary school as “literacy workers”; second, in an American adaptation of the concept of “the generative word” (Freire) or “the active word” (Ferrer)—both being at the heart of Cuba's openly and explicitly politicized approach. The probable social and economic repercussions of this method upon the totality of our social system are examined in the concluding section.