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| Orality and Literacy | |
|---|---|
| Name | Orality and Literacy |
| Subject | Communication, Anthropology |
Orality and Literacy
Orality and Literacy examines the contrast between spoken traditions and written traditions across history and societies. The field interweaves scholarship from figures associated with Walter J. Ong, Eric Havelock, Jack Goody, Mikhail Bakhtin, and institutions such as the British Museum, Harvard University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge. Studies draw on case material from regions including Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Imperial China, Byzantium, and Pre-Columbian Americas and reference works like the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and the Bible.
The topic defines two interrelated modes: oral tradition practiced in societies like Ancient Greece, Viking Age Scandinavia, Zulu Kingdom, Akan people, and Native American tribes and literate practice institutionalized in contexts such as Imperial Rome, Tang dynasty, Abbasid Caliphate, and Maya civilization. Scholars map transitions in media across events like the Invention of the printing press, the Protestant Reformation, the Islamic Golden Age, and the European Renaissance while engaging archives at the Library of Congress, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Vatican Library. The scope includes interactions with legal texts (e.g., Code of Hammurabi, Magna Carta), religious canons (e.g., Qur'an, Torah, Vedas), and literary corpora (e.g., Beowulf, Mahabharata, Ramayana).
Historians trace orality and literacy through epochs: the emergence of cuneiform in Sumer, hieroglyphs in Ancient Egypt, logography in Shang dynasty, alphabetic systems in Phoenicia, and syllabaries in Linear B. The spread of script is linked to institutions like Persian Empire, Athenian democracy, Han dynasty, Medieval Christendom, and colonial enterprises led by Spanish Empire, British Empire, and Portuguese Empire. Technological shifts such as the Movable type, Telegraph, Radio broadcasting, Television broadcasting, and Internet reshape transmission alongside cultural movements like Enlightenment, Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism.
Analytical approaches derive from sources including Structuralism practitioners tied to Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, and Ferdinand de Saussure; from rhetorical theory linked to Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian; and from communication theory associated with Marshall McLuhan, Jürgen Habermas, and Noam Chomsky. Cognitive models invoke research by Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Donald Norman, and Daniel Kahneman, while sociolinguistic perspectives cite Dell Hymes, William Labov, and Basil Bernstein. Literary criticism engages with Northrop Frye, Tzvetan Todorov, and Mikhail Bakhtin.
Research connects orality-literacy shifts to cognitive processes studied in labs at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, MIT, Stanford University, and Yale University. Findings show consequences for memory practices evident in performances of Homeric bards, Irish seanchaí, West African griots, and Polynesian navigators; for symbolic systems such as mathematics within Ancient India and Islamic scholars; and for bureaucratic administration in Ottoman Empire, Song dynasty, and Aztec Empire. Social stratification linked to literacy is observable in records from Renaissance Florence, Tokugawa Japan, Industrial Revolution, and Meiji Restoration.
Pedagogical frameworks reflect tensions between oral pedagogy and literacy-based schooling embodied by institutions like Eton College, Sorbonne, Columbia University Teacher's College, and UNESCO. Curricula debates reference canonical texts such as Aeneid, Domesday Book, Canterbury Tales, Don Quixote and movements like Pragmatism, Progressive education, and Critical pedagogy. Media policies from organizations including BBC, Voice of America, UNICEF, and World Bank engage literacy campaigns, indigenous language revitalization among Maori, Basque, Welsh, and Sami communities, and digital literacy initiatives tied to Silicon Valley enterprises.
Critiques challenge teleological narratives advanced by commentators from Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Antonio Gramsci who examine power in textual regimes. Debates center on methodological issues raised by Ethnography practitioners studying oral history in contexts like Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa), Navajo Nation, and postcolonial studies involving Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Homi K. Bhabha. Controversies include the role of print in cultural homogenization tied to Imperialism, disputes over authenticity in folklore archives at Smithsonian Institution and licensing questions in intellectual property cases adjudicated by courts such as the International Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights.
Representative case studies include analysis of mnemonic performance in Homeric recitation documented in studies of Iliad bards; comparative literacy rates in France, Japan, India, United States and Brazil during industrialization; script reform and standardization in Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; alphabetization campaigns led by José Martí-era movements; and modern digital oral practices exemplified by platforms like YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook. Applied projects appear in curricula at UNESCO, health communication campaigns by World Health Organization, and legal documentation reforms in countries including Rwanda, South Korea, and Chile.
Category:Communication studies