Thresholds of Illiteracy : theory, Latin America, and the crisis of resistance / Abraham Acosta.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Acosta, Abraham, author.

Series:

Just ideas.

Just ideas

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latin American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

Latin American literature.

Literacy--Social aspects--Latin America.

Literacy.

Politics and literature--Latin America--History--20th century.

Politics and literature.

Literature and society--Latin America.

Literature and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (292 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Thresholds of Illiteracy reevaluates Latin American theories and narratives of cultural resistance by advancing the concept of "illiteracy" as a new critical approach to understanding scenes or moments of social antagonism. "Illiteracy," Acosta claims, can offer us a way of talking about what cannot be subsumed within prevailing modes of reading, such as the opposition between writing and orality, that have frequently been deployed to distinguish between modern and archaic peoples and societies. This book is organized as a series of literary and cultural analyses of internationally recognized postcolonial narratives. It tackles a series of the most important political/aesthetic issues in Latin America that have arisen over the past thirty years or so, including indigenism, testimonio, the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, and migration to the United States via the U.S.-Mexican border. Through a critical examination of the "illiterate" effects and contradictions at work in these resistant narratives, the book goes beyond current theories of culture and politics to reveal radically unpredictable forms of antagonism that advance the possibility for an ever more democratic model of cultural analysis"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Thresholds of Illiteracy, or the Deadlock of Resistance in Latin America

Other Perus: Colono Insurrection and the Limits of Indigenista Narrative

Beyond Transcriptions: Testimonio, Illiteracy, and the Politics of the Literary

Silence, Subalternity, the EZLN, and the Egalitarian Contingency

Hinging on Exclusion and Exception: Bare Life at the US/Mexico Border

Afterword. Illiteracy, Ethnic Studies, and the Lessons of SB1070.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780823257126

0823257126

9780823257102

082325710X

9780823257133

0823257134

9780823261529

0823261522

9780823257119

0823257118

OCLC:

878144554