Literacy and illiteracy, its relational other : A key topic for collaboration between psychology and anthropology

DOI zum Zitieren der Version auf EPub Bayreuth: https://doi.org/10.15495/EPub_UBT_00009008
URN to cite this document: urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-9008-0

Title data

Alber, Erdmute ; Kölbl, Carlos:
Literacy and illiteracy, its relational other : A key topic for collaboration between psychology and anthropology.
In: Ethos. Vol. 53 (2025) Issue 3 . - e70015.
ISSN 1548-1352
DOI der Verlagsversion: https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.70015

	Format: PDF Name: Ethos - 2025 - Alber - Literacy and illiteracy its relational other A key topic for collaboration between psychology and.pdf Version: Published Version Available under License Creative Commons BY 4.0: Attribution
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Project information

Project title:	Project's official title Project's id EXC 2052: Africa Multiple: Reconfiguring African Studies 390713894 Open Access Publizieren No information
Project financing:	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Abstract

Collaborative work between anthropology and psychology on literacy and particularly on illiteracy helps to rethink general disciplinary backgrounds, concepts, and complex empirical phenomena in the field of (il)literacy. Since the formational period of the social sciences, the concept of literacy has been key to the self-understandings of anthropology and psychology. However, it was long neglected in empirical research. Nonetheless, implicit and explicit assumptions about the role, history, and distinctiveness of writing systems and their presence or absence in various societies were central to disciplinary understandings of societies, individuals, and humanity. To this day, literacy and especially its relational other—illiteracy—have not received the attention they deserve from either empirical or conceptual research. This article begins with their histories in anthropology and psychology and argues that illiteracy, in particular, has been neglected in their debates. It then offers a framework for literacizing and illiteracizing, conceptualizes both illiteracy and literacy as multiple and relational phenomena, and discusses methodologies and preliminary results from our collaborative research project on processes of literacizing and illiteracizing in urban literate environments in Benin and Bolivia. It concludes with a discussion of the potential of research on literacy and illiteracy as a model for transdisciplinary work, especially a more intensive collaboration between our disciplines.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Keywords:	Benin; Bolivia; illiteracy; literacy; multiplicity; relationality; transdisciplinarity
DDC Subjects:	100 Philosophy and psychology > 150 Psychology 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology 300 Social sciences > 370 Education
Institutions of the University:	Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair Psychology Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair Psychology > Chair Psychology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carlos Kölbl Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair Social Anthropology Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair Social Anthropology > Chair Social Anthropology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erdmute Alber Profile Fields Profile Fields > Advanced Fields Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > African Studies Profile Fields > Emerging Fields Profile Fields > Emerging Fields > Cultural Encounters and Transcultural Processes Research Institutions > Collaborative Research Centers, Research Unit > EXC 2052 - Africa Multiple: Afrikastudien neu gestalten Research Institutions Research Institutions > Collaborative Research Centers, Research Unit
Language:	English
Originates at UBT:	Yes
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-9008-0
Date Deposited:	19 Mar 2026 14:29
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2026 14:29
URI:	https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/9008

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