Literacy and ways of resistance towards the economy of written culture

Abstract

This article inicially analyses some conceptions about literacy which exclude those who cannot read and write of the possibility for logical reasoning. Following, discursive evidences that this position is equivocal are presented. Comparing the generic of the major premise of the syllogism with other generics that occur in an illiterate story teller`s  everyday linguistic activity, and also examining a written text produced by an intern in a psychiatric hospital, we conclude that there exist alternative paths to the logical, highly literate discourse. Such alternative ways are not taken into consideration by the school, but they represent places of resistance against the economy of the dominant written culture.