Relieving Isolation, Avoiding Vices: The Social Purposes of Participation in a Salvadoran Literacy Program

Autor/in	Prins, Esther
Titel	Relieving Isolation, Avoiding Vices: The Social Purposes of Participation in a Salvadoran Literacy Program
Quelle	In: Adult Education Quarterly: A Journal of Research and Theory, 57 (2006) 1, S.5-25 (21 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0741-7136
DOI	10.1177/0741713606292152
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Literacy Education; Interpersonal Relationship; Interaction; Ethnography; Womens Education; Sociocultural Patterns; Social Isolation; Sex Role; Gender Differences; Role of Education; Adult Education; El Salvador + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Interaktion; Ethnografie; 'Women''s education'; Frauenbildung; Soziokulturelle Theorie; Soziale Isolation; Geschlechterrolle; Geschlechterkonflikt; Bildungsauftrag; Adult; Adults; Education; Adult basic education; Adult training; Erwachsenenbildung
Abstract	This article uses ethnographic research to examine how women and men in rural El Salvador used literacy classes to accomplish their own social purposes. Employing a sociocultural, feminist framework, the author argues that men and women valued classes as an opportunity for social interaction. Moreover, the classes were a gendered social space that helped women to relieve isolation and men to spend their time purposefully and "avoid vices" like drinking. These needs were rooted in gender relations (an inequitable gender division of labor, the restriction of female mobility, the sanctioning of drinking as masculine behavior) and socioeconomic conditions (unemployment, postwar social fragmentation). Attending classes allowed learners to construct identities that challenged dominant conceptions of gender. The article proposes that serving the human longing for affiliation is a legitimate, essential role of adult education. It concludes by suggesting ways to analyze and support social interaction in adult and literacy education. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10