Literacy and Enslavement in Levi-Strauss' Tristes Tropiques

In Tristes Tropiques, Claude Levi-Strauss states that the “only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is, the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system” (1423). Levi-Strauss further states that writing “seems to have favoured the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment,” concluding that “the primary function of written communication is to facilitate slavery” (1423). While it is true that literacy can be seen as a tool for the exploitation of human beings, it is a bit far-reaching to claim enslavement as literacy’s primary purpose. Levi-Strauss gives the example of the fight against illiteracy in Europe as a method for the government to institute authority over citizens. Once the masses have been informed of the laws with which they will be oppressed, they can no longer plead ignorance. This is an interesting idea and, indeed accounts for the controlling of peons who must work to pay the debts for which their labor will be unable to pay back. However, this theory does not fit the methods of the southern plantation owners of the United States who forbade their slaves from becoming literate. In this situation, literacy can be seen as a method that fights enslavement. The plantation owners are literate and are thus able to participate in the drafting of laws that facilitate enslavement. Therefore, when the slaves are purposely alienated from this system, they are unable to advocate on their behalf. It is the absence of literacy that facilitates their enslavement. Furthermore, the act of voting—the basis of the American political system—can be seen as an act of literacy. One must be literate in order to participate in elections. Although the electoral method uses literacy to integrate large numbers of individuals into a political system, it is not one that facilitates enslavement. It is the absence, or rather forced absence, from this system that truly facilitates enslavement. If a slave were to become literate in this context, he or she would enter into existence in the world of literacy and thus be one step closer to participation in the electoral process. (As American history shows, however, the literacy of slaves did not bring about immediate participation in the American political system.) Although this example illustrates a situation in which literacy aids in the fight against slavery, it also illustrates the controlling force of literacy in that slaves must adopt the system of their master to aid in their liberation. In this sense, literacy is still an imperialist, and perhaps even negative, force, but not to the extreme that its primary purpose is enslavement.