Defining Community Literacy (Weekly Writing # 2)

In Part I of her book Linda Flowers discusses how we as a society define terms such as community and literacy. Communities, Flowers claims, are a symbolic construction. Her definition of the term community seems to fit since the word has different meaning to varying peoples. By surveying the landscape around the Community House in her native Pittsburgh, Flowers highlights the fact within the diverse landscape of Pittsburgh there are three kinds of communities. Pittsburgh, like many large cities in America, is a civic community in which individuals are loosely connected with one another. Flowers envisions community literacy as a  kind of fourth community. This community is more in line with the familial sense of the word, and works to create a place to talk across difference. After discussing in depth what makes a community, Flowers talks about how her idea of community literacy shares similarities with John Dewey's vision of progressive education as well as Enlightenment ideals. Flowers is concerned with bringing silenced or marginalized voices forward within the community.

Goody talk about the effects literacy has had on society. By examining writing forms in ancient societies like the Sumerians and Egyptians, Goody shows how the construction of an Alphabetical system influences speech and thought. While acknowledging the importance of the Alphabet, Goody also mentions lists as evidence for the cognitive effects of literacy. Goody examines the written texts of Mesopotamia which often came in the form of administrative lists. Lists Goody explains are a form of oral communication separate from speech, which represents "modes of thought". When we arrange words in a list, we are classifying that object. Goody uses lists written by ancient literate cultures to show the impact writing has on the world and our psyche.

Schriber and Cole continue talking about the effects of literacy on society. They argue that the invention of the alphabetic system has changed the basic forms of human memory. Scribner and Cole examine the Vai culture, specifically the phonetic writing system they invented and continue to use. Since the Vai have no formal schooling, Schribner and Cole are able to see the relationship between literacy and thinking more clearly. They speculate that literacy impacts memory, communication skills, and language analysis. By taking a look at the intricacies of the Vai alphabet, we see that how we learn to read and write effects the way we write and even the way we think.