Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Summer 2011)

Storytelling has been, and remains, an important aspect of many cultures and their literacy histories. Traditionally, storytelling was an oral practice that was used to pass on cultural and community beliefs, traditions, and histories. Research indicates that storytelling is a purposeful practice that is not only shaped by, but linked to, a community’s beliefs, attitudes, and values (p. 321). However, in our ever-changing world, storytelling has begun to be transformed to include written stories and is used for many different purposes.

In Perry’s study, she examined the impact that storytelling had on the lives of three “Lost Boys” from Sudan and how their sense of storytelling evolved from that of a traditional practice while in Sudan to a new, transformed practice when they were relocated to the United States. Perry identified different themes in storytelling such as “learning from stories,” traditional stories,” and “stories for the wider world” that were embedded in the data collected from each of the participants. She found that in Sudan, the participants’ experiences in storytelling seemed to be that of “traditional stories.” These stories were important to the participants as a way to preserve their culture and keep the history and customs of their culture alive. In my fourth grade social studies curriculum we study the Cherokee Indians. We read the novel Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears and study Native American legends. Next year I plan to hold a storytelling festival where students will write their own Native American legends and then tell them to parents and classmates. In doing so, I will be giving my students the “authentic purpose” and the “real audience” that Perry mentions.

Once the boys were relocated to the United States, they began to transform their storytelling practices. In the United States, the boys no longer had access to the elder members of their community or culture. They began to see a need for creating written accounts to preserve their culture’s way of life. The biggest shift that Perry found was that the boys began to tell more personal stories. These stories “purpose, audience, and medium differed in important ways from those of the traditional storytelling…” (p. 328). Their stories now served to educate others about the situation in Sudan and the boys’ experiences as refugees.

The results of Perry’s study showed that the boys thought that engaging in literacy activities was important on many levels. They felt that it was crucial for their futures. They felt that knowing how to read and write made things easier for them and could help them pursue their educations and obtain a “professional” career.

This point was reiterated by Lamont Carey in his Def Jam poetry session. I was particularly moved by his poem because I felt that I could more easily relate to that situation than I could the experiences of the refugee boys. It angers me that some educators can overlook a student’s struggles in literacy to further their own agendas such as sports achievements. What options do we leave these children? When their knee snaps, as Carey points out, then what WILL they do? Our literacy instruction must provide students with the opportunity to engage in activities that have “real purposes.” Whether students are refugees from another country, black males from the ghetto, or Native Americans, as educators we must strive to reach these students. Otherwise, they won’t even have a story to tell.

Leslie Rothenberger