Abstract

This article examines the uses of oral testimony in writing about literacy in historical context, especially about the literacy traditions of populations “hidden from history”-immigrants, refugees, and undocumented persons-who are entering U.S. schools and workplaces, and whose literacy histories may be unknown or lost. Drawing on testimonies collected from Laotian Hmong refugees, I offer the following propositions: First, that oral testimonies provide information about literacy that may be unavailable in documentary records. Second, that oral testimonies may reveal deeply held values and attitudes about literacy that cannot be derived from the documentary evidence. Third, that oral testimonies disclose the full range of human experience, rational and emotional, and that this may lead to new understandings of literacy. Finally, that oral histories invite collaboration between researcher and informant in writing new histories of literacy-though not always in ways commonly assumed.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2007-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088306296468
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

References (70) · 4 in this index

  1. Histoire de l’asie du sud-est: revoltes, reformes, revolutions
  2. Exploring the historical basis of contemporary literacy
    The Quarterly Newsletter of The Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition
  3. 10.4324/9780203448885
  4. Biography and society: The life history approach to the social sciences
  5. Our common history
Show all 70 →
  1. 10.1017/CBO9780511519864
  2. The oral history reader
  3. Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History
  4. The oral history reader
  5. (Reprinted from Oral History, 17, 16-20, 1989).
    Oral History
  6. 10.1017/CBO9780511810237
  7. 10.5149/uncp/9780807844373
  8. Hmong means free: Life in Laos and America
  9. Speaking about writing: Reflections on research methodology
  10. The empty schoolhouse: Memories of one-room Texas schools
  11. Methods and methodology in composition research
  12. Changing lives of refugee Hmong women
  13. 10.1515/9780824861100
  14. 10.5771/9780759117631
  15. Enwall J. (1994). A myth become reality: History and development of the Miao written language (Vol. 1). Unpub…
  16. Written Communication
  17. 10.2307/358588
  18. The legacies of literacy: Continuities and contradictions in western culture and society
  19. Escribir y leer en Occidente
  20. Literacy: A critical sourcebook
  21. Written Communication
  22. Variation in writing: Functional and linguistic-cultural differences
  23. White Hmong-English dictionary. Data Paper no. 75, Southeast Asia Program
  24. The oral history reader
  25. (Extracted from Oral History Review, 22, 1-27, 1995).
    Oral History Review
  26. Language in education: Ethnolinguistic essays
  27. Literacy in the United States
  28. The oral history reader
  29. (Reprinted from Radical History Review 62, 58-79, 1995.)
    Radical History Review
  30. Methods and methodology in composition research
  31. Country school memories: An oral history of one-room schooling
  32. Les ecritures du Hmong
    Bulletin des amis du Royaume Lao
  33. Listening to history: The authenticity of oral evidence
  34. A history of education in antiquity
  35. Written Communication
  36. Methods of literacy research
  37. Ethics and representation in qualitative studies of literacy
  38. Written Communication
  39. Black Elk speaks
  40. Handbook of writing research
  41. Oral history: An interdisciplinary anthology
  42. 10.1093/ohr/9.1.27
  43. 10.4324/9780203435960
  44. The oral history reader
  45. Making Histories: Studies in history-writing and politics
  46. The death of Luigi Trastulli and other stories: Form and meaning in oral history
  47. The battle of Valle Giulia: Oral history and the art of dialogue
  48. Hmong: History of a people
  49. Unwelcome strangers: American identity and the turn against immigration
  50. Feminist methods in social research
  51. Hidden from history
  52. Computers and Writing Conference, Illinois State University
  53. 10.4324/9781410610768
  54. 10.4159/9780674043596
  55. 10.1075/wll.1.1.05sma
  56. Mother of writing: The origin and development of a Hmong messianic script
  57. Handbook of college reading and study research
  58. Pathways for literacy: Learners teach and teachers learn, 16th yearbook of the College Re…
  59. Ethics and representation in qualitative studies of literacy
  60. Sovereignty and rebellion: The White Hmong of northern Thailand
  61. Voice of the past: Oral history
  62. The oral history reader
  63. International yearbook of oral history and life stories, vol. III: Migration and identity
  64. Oral history and questions on interaction for educational historians
    International Journal of Oral History
  65. Recording oral history: A practical guide for social scientists