A Finger Covered in Ink, Stories from those who couldn’t learn to read
No. 76 FEBRUARY 2024
Casteleiro, in the district of Guarda, is one of the Portuguese parishes with the highest illiteracy rate. This book portrays the daily lives of inhabitants of this village who had no opportunity to learn to read and write.
This is the case of Horácio: he knows what each of the letters of the alphabet are called, he is even able to write them one by one, but in his head they are as if disconnected; when he gets a letter he has to «go to Beatriz», a post office employee who can put the letters together. On his rounds, Rui the postman can never forget his ink pad, for the people who can only «sign» with their right index finger.
In Portugal, where 3.1% of people were still illiterate in 2021, these stories are almost social archaeology, testimonies of a world about to disappear.
Casteleiro, in the district of Guarda, is one of the Portuguese parishes with the highest illiteracy rate. This book portrays the daily lives of inhabitants of this village who had no opportunity to learn to read and write.
This is the case of Horácio: he knows what each of the letters of the alphabet are called, he is even able to write them one by one, but in his head they are as if disconnected; when he gets a letter he has to «go to Beatriz», a post office employee who can put the letters together. On his rounds, Rui the postman can never forget his ink pad, for the people who can only «sign» with their right index finger.
In Portugal, where 3.1% of people were still illiterate in 2021, these stories are almost social archaeology, testimonies of a world about to disappear.
More details
Dimensions
6 × 130 × 200 mm
ISBN
978-989-9153-49-3