Tuesday 5 October 2010

The 'Labour of Love': The Jamaican anti-literacy cultural project

Author: Natalie D. A. Bennett, Contributor

Title: "Confront the anti-literacy culture - Part 1"

Source: Jamaica Gleaner

Date published: Sunday, October 3, 2010

URL: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101003/focus/focus81.html


Abstract:
The author relates her activism and project in transforming Jamaican urban public spaces into centres for the promotion of literacy in Jamaican children.

Excerpt:
Whether we realise it or not, making illiteracy a thing of the past will require far more than big speeches and grand declarations about the importance of knowing how to read. It will take work. The question is: are we ready to do what is necessary?

In August of this year, I created a project called 'Labour of Love' in Kingston and Montego Bay. Part street performance and part activism, I wanted to see what would happen if love - not charity, shame, punishment, guilt, obligation - were the driving force for engaging in intentional, and hopefully, transformative social action in Jamaica's public spaces. In ten days, I did a variety of activities: made sidewalk art, crafted wills, distributed reading material, gave away vegetable seeds, and did bra fittings. And for half of that time, I worked with school-aged children on the sidewalks of downtown Kingston. Armed with rubber-stamps, crayons, pencils, markers, word and math games, and a plethora of worksheets, I tried to tailor each child's activities to his/her abilities and interests. Age was not a useful predictor of any ability, as I discovered. A 'class' of five children quickly grew to a 'school' of over 20 by the end of the week

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