Why Eat Green Cucumbers at the Time of Dying ? Women’s Literacy and Development in Nepal
Anna Robinson-Pant
Winner of the 1998/1999 International Award for Literacy Research
UIE 2000
ISBN 92 820 1107-0
DM 20,00 - US$ 9,00 - £ 6,50 - FF 67,00 - E 10,20 (+ shipping cost)
1394 kB

Anna Robinson-Pant's book represents a classic example of the link between research and practice. Her account of literacy and development amongst women in Nepal offers an important antidote to the dominant assumptions about literacy, women and development based on statistical accounts of literacy 'levels'; correlations of 'literacy' with 'indicators' of women's health, 'empowerment' etc.; and unrealistic ideas about the significance of literacy for rural women in Development contexts. What Anna Robinson-Pant provides instead is a subtle and nuanced account of what it means for local women to engage in a range of literacy practices in specific social contexts. The focus here is on the processes by which people acquire literacy and deploy its use for their own purposes rather than on some universal skill called 'literacy' or an essential category called 'woman'. The strength of the book lies in the close local knowledge that she brings to bear on this subject, deriving from many months of close observation, living with local people, knowledge of the language and keeping of detailed field notes in ethnographic style (Brian Street, excerpt from the foreword).