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Distribution Agreement in Presenting This Thesis Or Dissertation As A Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _____________________________ ______________ Tiffany D. Pogue Date 2 Reading Worlds Seen and Unseen: The Role of Literacy in Diasporic African Spiritual Traditions in the United States By Tiffany D. Pogue Doctor of Philosophy Educational Studies _________________________________________ Maisha T. Winn, Ph.D. Advisor _________________________________________ Dianne Diakité, Ph.D. Committee Member _________________________________________ Mwalimu J. Shujaa, Ed.D. Committee Member _________________________________________ Vanessa Siddle Walker, Ed.D. Committee Member Accepted: _________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ___________________ Date 3 Reading Worlds Seen and Unseen: The Role of Literacy in Diasporic African Spiritual Traditions in the United States By Tiffany D. Pogue M.A., Florida International University, 2008 B.A., Fort Valley State University, 2005 Advisor: Maisha T. Winn, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies 2013 4 Abstract Reading Worlds Seen and Unseen: The Role of Literacy in Diasporic African Spiritual Traditions in the United States By Tiffany D. Pogue Despite literacy scholars’ clarion call for moving beyond limited, and limiting, understandings of the literacy construct, contemporary educational research still tends toward studies based on mainstream literacy practices and traditional school settings. Meanwhile, those Black cultural and literacy traditions that (1) lie beyond the typical in- school setting and (2) furthest away from White dominant cultural practices are so severely marginalized in literacy research that educators presently have difficulty locating them in the literature. As a result, one also finds it extremely difficult to locate literature related to the role of literacy in the practices of Diasporic African Spiritual Traditions (DASTs) in the United States. To respond to this gap in educational literature, this dissertation employs the ethnography of communication and New Literacy Studies as twinned theoretical frameworks to answer the following research questions: 1) In what ways has literacy been used in the practice of DASTs in the United States? 2) How do practitioners of DASTs in the US define and understand literacy within the context of these traditions? 3) In what ways might DAST communities constitute African Diaspora Participatory Literacy Communities (ADPLCs) (Fisher, 2003)? Semi-structured qualitative interviews, general historical methods including archival work, and instrument-based participant observation have been employed to engage these questions and reveal that DAST communities both record and decode information through a variety of forms including color, rhythm, liturgical structure, syllabic text, and material culture in order to transmit ideas about cultural themes and ontology. The strategies for such literacy are by design ambiguous in nature and interpreted only through an informed consideration of context. 5 Reading Worlds Seen and Unseen: The Role of Literacy in Diasporic African Spiritual Traditions in the United States By Tiffany D. Pogue M.A., Florida International University, 2008 B.A., Fort Valley State University, 2005 Advisor: Maisha T. Winn, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies 2013 6 Acknowledgements Undertaking a task as difficult as completing this dissertation has only been possible as a result of the encouragement and support of a number of people. I do not believe that any individual is ever truly alone, and the presence and voices,of my family, friends, professors, and colleagues have evidenced this in ways for which I am truly grateful. Before undertaking this effort, I felt the presence of my ancestors in and around my life. Since the study has been completed, I am certain that a number of them have helped me identify my research questions, design the methods to engage them, and pushed me forward in the writing process. My maternal grandmother, Mrs. Nettie Dunn Raine, made her transition while I was working on this dissertation. Before her death, and after, she has continued to take an interest in my scholarship and in my commitment to the communities I have sought to honor with my work. My parents, Richard and Birdie Pogue; my sister, Karen L. Pogue-Blackshear; and my nephew Eric James Blackshear, have provided me with the space and patient attention that have allowed me to test my ideas and explain my thinking. I am thankful for my DES cohort—No Candidate Left Behind—and their proofreading, conversations, encouragement, and also for the silliness that kept us all sane during this process. Importantly, I sincerely appreciate the efforts of my committee: Dr. Maisha T. Winn, Dr. Dianne Diakité, Dr. Mwalimu J. Shujaa, and Dr. Vanessa Siddle Walker. I extend an especially important thank-you to Dr. Siddle Walker. When circumstances made it such that I no longer had an advisor in residence, Dr. Walker stepped into the gap and allowed me to discuss my ideas with her, she provided important and critical feedback on my initial design and drafts of this project. 7 Table of Contents Chapter One: Remembering, Reordering, and Rewriting History………………………..1 Purpose…………………………………………………………………………….3 Research Questions………………………………………………………………..4 Significance………………………………………………………………………..4 Theoretical Frameworks…………………………………………………………..7 Organization of the Study………………………………………………………..10 Chapter Two: Literature Review: Establishing the Context for the Study……………..12 Living Traditions that Refuse to Die…………………………………………….13 Holy Counterstories in (Un)Written Texts………………………………………14 Education, Literacy and DASTs…………………………………………………16 Chapter Three: Methods: Towards a Holistic Collection and Analysis of Data………..29 Definition of Key Term: Literacy……………………………………………….29 Setting and Scope………………………………………………………………...30 Participants……………………………………………………………………….31 Data Collection…………………………………………………………………..33 Instrumentation…………………………………………………………..34 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………….34 Historical Context………………………………………………………………..35 Validity and Reliability…………………………………………………………..36 Positionality……………………………………………………………...37 Chapter Four: Did You Hear What She Wrote? Orality, Literacy, and Embodied Texts……………………………………………………………………………………...40 8 Chapter Five: Reading, ‘Riting, & Ritual: Literacy in African Spiritual Contexts…….61 Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Spiritual Spaces………………………………63 The Crossroads as Context……………………………………………………….64 Only When You’re Ready……………………………………………………….71 Chapter Six: Is There Room for Spirit in ADPLCs?........................................................80 Orality, Flexibility, and Intergenerational Emphasis…………………………….80 Flexibility and Overlap in ADPLCs……………………………………………..82 Not Just Flesh: Spirit as Community Member…………………………………..87 Reciprocity in Community……………………………………………………….93 No Ile is an Island………………………………………………………………..95 Community Reputation and Acceptance……………………………………….100 Chapter Seven: Discussion of Findings, Scholarship at the Crossroads……………….103 Findings at a Glance…………………………………………………………….103 Defining Literacy from the Ground Up………………………………………...106 Applying What Was Found in a Contemporary Classroom Setting……………107 Where From Here?...............................................................................................112 References………………………………………………………………………………115 APPENDIX A: Glossary of DAST-related terms……………………………………...130 APPENDIX B: AADF…………………………………………………………………132 APPENDIX C: Notes on Methodology: Dancing Between Circles and Lines: Academic Responsibility and Spiritual Commitment……………………………………………..133 9 List of Tables Table 1 List of Study Participants…………………………………………….33 Table 2 Data Sources and Methodology………………………………………39 10 List of Figures Figure 1 Name Repeated on a Scrap of Paper…………………………………..54 Figure 2 Orisa and Sopera: The Sign and Signified……………………………69 1 1 Chapter One 2 Remembering, Reordering, and Rewriting History 3 4 "Because of the experience of diaspora, the fragments that contain the traces of a 5 coherent system of order must be reassembled." (Gates, 1988, p. xxiv). 6 7 Despite the legislated denial of elements necessary for rituals and practice and 8 notwithstanding the requirements of a new natural environment, enslaved people in the 9 European’s New World were able to preserve, protect, and transmit their spiritual and 10 philosophical knowledge to subsequent generations. Descendants of these enslaved 11 Africans
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