The contributors present their in-depth studies of everyday uses and meanings of literacy and of the literacy programmes that have been developed to enhance them.

List of figures, List of contributors, Introduction, PART I Literacy and development: ethnographic perspectives on schooling and adult education, PART II Literacy and development: local literacies and development agendas, Afterword: problematising literacy and development, Index

Brian Street is Professor of Language in Education at King's College, London, and Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His publications include Literacy in Theory and Practice, Cross-cultural Approaches to Literacy, and Social Literacies.