ABSTRACT
This chapter first revisits the discourses about illiteracy that were presented in the previous five chapters. It examines how they produced a network of discourses that provided different positions for the illiterate person. The chapter then adopts a thematic approach to focus attention on three themes of Nation, Schooling, and Inclusion, which recurred across the discourses and data. The theme of Nation addresses nationalist concerns with literacy education, an important element for a nation-state that defined itself by reference to an ancient form of literacy. The second theme of Schooling focuses attention on the capacity of schooling in Ireland to produce a critically engaged literate public. The third theme of Inclusion addresses how activities of inclusion and exclusion aimed at the illiterate person were evident within the data. The chapter then explores how aspects of power, knowledge, and silence were evident across the discourses. It also argues that the silences surrounding illiteracy and the narrative of full literacy worked in tandem. They helped to construct the independent Irish state as a successful modern progressive literate nation that did not formally concede the existence of illiteracy. The final part identifies implications arising from this conjecture in contemporary Ireland.
