Literacy Among the Vai People

I really liked reading about Scribner’s study of the Vai people of West Africa. Their written language is particularly interesting; a relatively recent invention (roughly around 1820) it is one of the few self-created forms within sub-Saharan Africa. And the Vai have two additional scripts, Arabic, primarily tied to their Muslim faith, and English, primarily associated with Liberia, where most of the Vai are found.

Vai as a written language is interesting because despite these cultural pressures it persists, occupying a distinctive niche both for pragmatic uses, but also personal ones as well. Additionally, the creation of a script has not managed to diminish a history of oral tradition either. Vai fits into a complex collection of different forms of literacy, each providing their own social benefits for having literacy in.

The Vai written language is a rare opportunity to see an emergent culture form around a form of literacy. Vai offers them opportunities separate from those without the knowledge, a combination of practical information retention, private correspondence, and burgeoning creative composition. Knowledge of the local script also provides social status; respect and reverence are bestowed upon those who can read and write in it.

The Vai also serve as an example of the importance of culture in defining the relative value of a given form of literacy. The merits of knowledge in a particular script are tied to their actual usage, with English providing a link to the Liberian government and its literacy programs, Arabic tied to spiritual matters, and their home-grown script connected to predominantly local or personal concerns. This compares with our own struggle to define what literacy is. Mercurial modern forms compete against often rigidly codified older ones, but each proves to be an enabler within their sphere of influence. While these newer forms, text speak, twittering, blogging, etc., lack the history of say the English canon, they represent their own emergent culture, growing from pragmatic application to a new way to creatively express one’s self.