Minami 1991d

Minami, Masahiko. 1991d. "Review of 'Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses' by Gee 1990." (Review originally appeared in issue of HERbetween 1990 and 1991). In Minami and Kennedy 1991. Interest level: academic.

Gee discusses literacy from a historical perspective, describing how nonliterate people and people from underrepresented groups have been oppressed. Defines discourse as more than sequential speech or writing. Discourse represents cultural models consisting of "words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, social identities, as well as gestures, glances, body positions and clothes" (page 142).

Rejects the traditional view of literacy as an autonomous, higher-level cognitive skill that is unrelated to social practices. Compares home-based discourses and school-based discourses. Criticizes school-based discourses as oppressive, and discusses student success or failure based on match-mismatch of the two discourse patterns. Considers that school-based discourses have played an inhuman gatekeeping role in Western societies.

• Bibliography module: Minami 1991d
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): M
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

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