Self-Deprecation and Self-Enhancement: Ambivalences of Literacy Acquisition for Migrant Women Learning to Read and Write in the Host Country

Adult education in general, and literacy acquisition in particular, is often viewed as an empowering personal growth process. However, the extent to which basic literacy acquisition in adult life can be disempowering and induce devaluation and self-deprecation has remained under-explored. This study analyzes the reading and writing learning processes of a group of Moroccan migrant women in Spain. Using an ethnographic approach based on the observation of literacy classes and interviews with learners and teachers, the analysis focuses on the interrelation and coexistence of self-deprecation and self-enhancement as expressions of the ambivalences of the learning experience. These ambivalences are discussed considering the intersections of gender, education, and migration and in the context of the analysis of three forms of self-deprecating expressions: disclosure, infantilization, and humor.