What happens when people excluded from formal education become educators themselves? Daniel Rudas, an anthropologist from Colombia, studies grassroots literacy practices in rural communities often seen as "illiterate." In the Sumapaz mountains, children once taught adults to read and write during a time when the state refused to build schools. Their goal wasn’t academic success—it was resistance. Through community-led education, they gained the tools to sue the state and defend their land.

Now, decades later, Sumapaz has a university, roads, and internet. But Rudas is still asking: whose literacy counts? His research values unconventional forms of writing—notes, drawings, letters, even decorated gardens—as knowledge practices that deserve recognition. These "non-official" literacies, he argues, are powerful forms of communication and cultural identity.

As part of the Redes_Ling project on language inequality, Rudas challenges the idea that there is one correct way to write, speak, or learn. For him, language is not about standard grammar—it’s about creativity, survival, and inclusion. His method encourages other researchers to uncover and honour local knowledge, from Luxembourg to Latin America. In Rudas’ words, “It’s not that people can’t write—it’s that we’re not always listening.”