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

I thought that it was interesting to learn about the different forms of storytelling: talk about storytelling, enacted storytelling and transformed storytelling. Chol, Ezra, and Francis held storytelling close to their hearts. Storytelling was how the Sudanese community passed information down from one generation to the next. I kept thinking about how I would never be able to remember family history information if it had been only orally given to me. I remember as a child and young adult trying to recall facts about my family genealogy. I had to constantly refer to the information listed in print.

Throughout our readings we have noticed the weight that connections carry for our students. I could not help but think of what a strong connection Erza must have had when he first learned that there are genres in literature. He stated, “I did not know this until I was doing literature in Kenya, oral literature, when I came to realize some of the stories, although different versions of the stories that I had been hearing, being classified. “ He was able to apply his background knowledge to help him understand a new concept presented in the classroom.

The Youth Program that Erza described is exactly what storytelling has always meant to me, a form of drama. In my eyes, means a more exciting approach to literature. In high school I was in theatre arts and we were performing Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, "The Cask of Amontillado". The next week in English class we were reading the same story. I had never understood a story more in my life because I had been a part of the storytelling process. This connection helped me to understand how important storytelling can be and why “The Lost Boys” wanted to ensure that this part of their culture was not lost. They did acknowledge that written form would provide a way to safeguard this information for those who did not get to experience the art of storytelling first hand.

Lamont Carey (I Can't Read) HBO Def Jam Poetry related well to Perry’s, “From storytelling to writing: Transforming literacy practices among Sudanese refugees”. Stress and responsibility are two words that came to my mind while viewing the clip. Knowing that your future options are limited because you can’t read and success in athletics is crucial. Lamont Carey’s use of storytelling through poetry painted a clear, yet dejected view of being an illiterate youth. He asks several powerful questions, but the one that stuck with me most was, “what are my options?” In my mind I was a searching for an answer but I was speechless. This answer should have been easy and full of choices. His future could have been anything he wanted to make it. I began asking myself, how did his teacher(s) miss this? I hate to entertain the idea that his teachers indeed knew but chose to overlook it.

Stacy Durham