Lire et écrire dans le Portugal d'Ancien Régime

• Published in: Paedagogica historica 2000-01, Vol.36 (2), p.514-537
• Main Author: de Magalhães, Justino Pereira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0030-9230; 1477-674X
• DOI: 10.1080/0030923000360201

Written culture has a history. As regards the "Ancien Régime" in Portugal, little scientific research has been done with account taken of the various dimensions of the written culture, the way in which one gains access to it and uses it in practice. Even though historiography may have been renewed as regards its methodology and even though the studies on the present situation abound, the history of the teaching of reading and writing remains a subject that is still hardly known. In the text that follows, we propose to approach the question for Portugal by presenting in turn the evolution of the historiography of the elimination of illiteracy, the problems raised by the scientific construction of the object, a formulation of the problem in function of our own survey, and the research prospects. We will present critical reflections on the fundamental concepts and a summary of the conclusions we have arrived at. Indeed, the history of the teaching of reading and writing and of reading and writing themselves acquires its true agnificanct only within the larger history of the written culture, which is a cultural and social as well as a pedagogical and anthropological history.