A functional fusion of literacies : the graphic adaptation of Bessie Head's short story, 'The collector of treasures'
Loading...
Authors
Latha, Rizwana Habib
Issue Date
2007
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
Bessie Head , The collector of treasures , Literacies , Oral narratives , Graphic texts
Alternative Title
Abstract
In promoting literacy, English educators
should be concerned with the whole range
of cultural products, since simple texts can reveal as much about culture, power, society
and identity as many other seemingly more "elevated" texts. It is clear that graphic
texts, which include comics and other narratives, fall within this range. They have a
widely accessible representational mode in which words and pictures are interdependent,
conveying an idea that neither could convey alone. In the graphic adaptation of African
short stories such as 'The Collector of Treasures', the oral mode of storytelling is
reinvented and reinforced by visual and written modes of communication conveyed in
the medium of a printed text. This type of graphic narrative promotes a functional
fusion of visual, written, oral, cultural and critical literacies and advances a popular
reading culture by facilitating a multiplicity of interactive responses. It may therefore
serve as an authentic signpost for the feasibility of broadening the scope of literary
studies in a wide variety of cultural and educational contexts.
Description
Citation
Latha, R.H. 2007,'A functional fusion of literacies : the graphic adaptation of Bessie Head's short story, 'The collector of treasures', Journal of Language Teaching, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 128-140.
Publisher
Rand Afrikaans University
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
0259-9570