ABSTRACT
The study of literacy is clearly part of the modern proliferation of sciences. It is a young branch of investigation. Its growing pains are compounded by another fact of modern science, for which the ruling code-word is 'interdisciplinarity'. Literacy as a phenomenon requires for its explanation the attention of at least eight academic disciplines. They range from studies concerned with the microelectrical impulses of the human brain to those which examine the struggles between the governing few and the subordinated masses of great empires. In 1968, Jack Goody edited a collection of studies of literacy. In his introduction he remarked on a surprising fact. Physiology, psychology, sociology, economics, the development of technology, political science, history, archaeology all have indispensable contributions to make to the complete understanding of the invention, uses and repercussions of literacy. It is another case of the familiar dialectic between specialisation and synthesis.
