Of New Englishes and and New Literacies

Literacy, Literacies and New Literacies

Haven established the existence and robustness of Nigerian English within the paradigm of New Englishes, let us consider the second leg of this lecture –new literacies. But before that, l shall preface the discourse on literacy by problematizing illiteracy.
5.1 Is there an illiterate person?
To answer this question, let’s share some insights from two characters in two of Achebe’s novels: Things Fall Apart (TFA) and Arrow of God (AoG). In TFA, Unoka, Okonkwo’s loathed father is presented as a great flutist who knows how to make musical notes to create melody to entertain and please; we are told that although he was a chronic debtor, he was a very honest one; he knew how to keep count of his creditors by making marks on the walls of his hut. We can see Unoka was literate in musical skills; Unoka was able to add and subtract which means he had numeracy skills. Can one who had such wonderful musical and numeracy skills be said to be an illiterate? In AoG, we meet Ezeulu, the chief priest of Ulu, a man who demonstrated a stubborn faith and belief in his god. The novel opens with Ezeulu waiting earnestly and intently for the appearance of the new moon. Throughout the novel, he showed uncanny dependence and reliance on his god. He could do nothing which Ulu has not approved even when the entire community urged him to so do. As a man of great insight, he sent his son to go and learn the wisdom of the ‘whiteman’. It means Ezeulu knows that: ‘Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; everyone goes along with his own’. Ezeulu knows that there are many forms of literacy. Ezeulu knows that apart from his priestly, cultural and traditional wisdom which he possessed enormously, the ‘new world’ of his son will demand a new kind of knowledge, abilities and attitudes and competencies; a new literacy. Ezeulu was rich in linguistic wisdom especially when you listen to the linguistic gymnastics and exchanges between himself and Nwaka, his antagonist throughout the novel. Can a man with such encyclopaedic knowledge and wisdom be said to be an illiterate? Such a conclusion can only be drawn by those who know of only one form of literacy, in only one language, probably western-oriented literacy and literacy expressed and lived in English language only. What the story of Unoka and Ezeulu underscores is that literacy is not measured by ability and quality of knowledge in western education nor in the competence and proficiency in the use of English language alone. Literacy is dynamic, contextual and culture-specific. This is why in this lecture, we speak of not just ‘literacies’ but ‘new literacies’ given that new literacies account for the ever expanding dimensions of literacy from its traditional sense of ability to read and write and calculate, to the possibility of even ‘newer literacies’ which respond to newer ways of creating, consuming, using and manipulating literacy practices whether oral and written in different and varying social contexts, classes and domains. Simply put, orality is an indispensable component of literacy.
Literacy is therefore not a linear, fixed, contained and closed process; literacy is cultural and contextual, dynamic, and constantly changing and expanding just like language. Literacy is like one watching a masquerade. You need to go around with the masquerade to have a full and complete view of the masquerade. Literacy is not simply scholastic English-based reading and writing abilities or practices. Literacy is a continuum of learning and so we should be talking about levels and degrees of literacies within a given context and culture. There is no one instrument to measure literacy across all contexts and across all cultures all the time throughout all the ages.
If we examine literacy from this enlarged periscope, then it is anachronistic to label someone as being an illiterate. In fact, contemporary understanding of literacy as a “continuum of proficiency levels” and not as a “simple dichotomy of ‘literate’ versus ‘illiterate’, is what is advocated in the Framework for Action Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. (See World Education Forum 2015 draft report on Framework for Action: Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, April 23, 2015).