"Talking Through Letters": Collaborative Writing in Early Lithuanian Immigrant Life  

Oleh:

Markelis, Daiva

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Written Communication ( sebagian Full Text) vol. 20 no. 2 (Apr. 2003), page 153-169.
Topik: literacy; letter writing; immigration; Lithuanian-Americans
Fulltext: 153.pdf (106.1KB)

Isi artikel

The emphasis on the individual inWestern culture has blinded us to how social relationships affect literacy acquisition and, conversely, how literacy transforms these relationships. This article deals with the literacy practices, specifically, letter writing, of Lithuanian immigrants who arrived in the United States during the end of the 19th century. For these immigrants, reading and writing were collaborative activities, not the individual, solitary acts that we often assume them naturally to be. Individuals often turned to more literate neighbors for assistance in tasks involving reading and writing, an extension of the concept of talka, the Lithuanian tradition of collective assistance. Parents also frequently engaged the help of sons and, especially, daughters in writing letters to relatives in Lithuania. Letter writing thus not only fostered solidarity between immigrant and their relatives in Lithuania but also between Lithuanian immigrant parents and their increasingly literate, Americanized children.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali