Literacy Training Policy and Practice in Tanzania: Some Elements of Reproduction and Resistance

Over the past two decades there has been an unprecedented effort in the world, parti cularly in the Third World, to combat illiteracy because it is considered an impediment to human progress. While many writers, politicians and educators do not claim an absolute and deterministic role for literacy in development, they argue that literacy is an essential component of both individual and societal development. Using Tanzania as an example, this paper argues that literacy training in most developing countries can be best analysed within the theoretical framework of reproduction and resistance. Literacy training policies and practices are analysed in different historical moments, focusing on the nature and character of the state, the state literacy training objectives, implementation and outcomes. Towards the end, the peasants' response to the state literacy training policies is briefly discussed leading to the conclusion that literacy training in Tanzania has enabled the peasants not only to read and write but also to reproduce themselves as peasants: small-holder growers of agricultural commodities for international capital.