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Religious genres, entextualization and literacy in Gitano children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2005

DAVID POVEDA ,
ANA CANO  and
MANUEL PALOMARES-VALERA
DAVID POVEDA
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
ANA CANO
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
MANUEL PALOMARES-VALERA
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
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Abstract

This article analyzes the connections between the oral genres displayed by Gitano (Spanish Gypsy) children and adults during religious instruction classes at an Evangelist church and the writings produced by Gitano children in an after-school computer program in the same community. Results are discussed in relation to two strands of received assumptions regarding Gypsy culture and recent theoretical insights in the study of literacy and discourse. On one hand, previous portraits of Gitano culture as exclusively oral need to be revised, in line with a more social and situated perspective on literacy. On the other, the results are a basis for critical examination of dominant explanations regarding the educational failure of Gitano children, an argument that highlights the importance of engaging intratextual linguistic analysis with discussions of the social and institutional orders.We first thank the research participants for their warm welcome to the different sites that are part of this study. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments. This study began when David Poveda worked in the School of Education and Humanities of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, where Ana Cano and Manuel Palomares-Valera completed their training. The research project was funded by the University of Castilla-La Mancha through an internal research grant (Principal Investigator: Beatriz Martín).

Keywords

Entextualizationvernacular literacyethnography of communicationRomaniSpain
Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 2005 , pp. 87 - 115
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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