ECU Libraries Catalog

Thresholds of Illiteracy : theory, Latin America, and the crisis of resistance / Abraham Acosta.

Author/creator Acosta, Abraham
Format Electronic and Book
EditionFirst edition.
Publication InfoNew York : Fordham University Press, 2014.
Descriptionxiv, 275 pages ; 23 cm.
Supplemental Content Full text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete
Subject(s)
Series Just ideas
Contents Machine generated contents note: Thresholds of Illiteracy, or the Deadlock of Resistance in Latin America -- Other Perus: Colono Insurrection and the Limits of Indigenista Narrative -- Beyond Transcriptions: Testimonio, Illiteracy, and the Politics of the Literary -- Silence, Subalternity, the EZLN, and the Egalitarian Contingency -- Hinging on Exclusion and Exception: Bare Life at the US/Mexico Border -- Afterword. Illiteracy, Ethnic Studies, and the Lessons of SB1070.
Abstract "Thresholds of Illiteracy reevaluates Latin American theories and narratives of cultural resistance by advancing the concept of "illiteracy" as a new critical approach to understanding scenes or moments of social antagonism. "Illiteracy," Acosta claims, can offer us a way of talking about what cannot be subsumed within prevailing modes of reading, such as the opposition between writing and orality, that have frequently been deployed to distinguish between modern and archaic peoples and societies. This book is organized as a series of literary and cultural analyses of internationally recognized postcolonial narratives. It tackles a series of the most important political/aesthetic issues in Latin America that have arisen over the past thirty years or so, including indigenism, testimonio, the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, and migration to the United States via the U.S.-Mexican border. Through a critical examination of the "illiterate" effects and contradictions at work in these resistant narratives, the book goes beyond current theories of culture and politics to reveal radically unpredictable forms of antagonism that advance the possibility for an ever more democratic model of cultural analysis"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 245-268) and index.
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
LCCN 2013036326
ISBN9780823257096 (hardback)
ISBN9780823257102 (paper)

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