Abstract

FERRARO, Alceu Ravanello. Illiteracy in Brazil: mis-conceptions and exclusionary policies. Perspectiva [online]. 2004, vol.22, n.01, pp.111-126. ISSN 0102-5473.

This paper links two intimately related analytical approaches to illiteracy in Brazil. The first traces a series of misconceptions (ignorance, blindness, laziness, disease, inability, danger etc.) that have characterized this phenomenon since the period of electoral reform at the end of the Brazilian Empire and the passage of The Saraiva Law of 1881. The second focuses on the debate about the right of illiterate people to vote. This debate continued for more than a century until the issue was clarified by the constitution of 1988. The author argues that misconceptions about illiteracy have discredited and stigmatized illiterate people and legitimated their exclusion from the right to vote and to citizenship, rather than serving the cause of the universal literacy in Brazil.

Keywords : Illiteracy; Brazil; Public Policies.

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