Lifelong illiteracy: autobiographical narratives of elderly students from public schools in Fortaleza

Abstract

n Brazil, there are still illiterate people in all age groups However, this problem predominantly affects the older population. The general aim of this research was to find out, through narratives, the meanings and significance constructed by elderly people about their literacy experiences in old age. We adopt the (auto)biographical research as methodological approach. Seven elderly people enrolled in EJA in schools in Fortaleza-CE took part in the study and offered to narrate their life trajectories. The main findings reveal a history of material deprivation and social exclusion and, more specifically, educational exclusion. The stories told show impediments to school throughout life, thus contradicting education as a fundamental right of all citizens, guaranteed in the Declaration of Rights. Human Rights by the UN in 1948.