Gold Medallions: The Arithmetic Calculations of an Illiterate

Abstract

[Editor Singleton provided the following introduction for this article in its original printing: One of the skills usually associated with literacy is that of arithmetic computation. We are tempted to assume, therefore, that illiterate people are necessarily incapable of computations that we perform symbolically with arithmetic notation. This study of one part of the cognitive system of an illiterate peasant demonstrates the sophisticated conceptualizations of which he is capable, independent of a writing system. For educational anthropologists, the study holds two lessons. First, it is significant as an investigation of the cognitive map of an unschooled, but not uneducated, informant that details his strategy for the symbolic manipulation of his environment. Second, it suggests that schooled individuals do not hold a monopoly on the skills usually associated with schools—even the basic conceptual skills associated with literacy.]