Literacy in Traditional Societies

Front Cover
Jack Goody
Cambridge University Press, 1975 M12 4 - 349 pages
The importance of writing as a means of communication in a society formerly without it, or where writing has been confined to particular groups, is enormous. It objectifies speech, provides language with a material correlative, and in this material form speech can be transmitted over space and preserved over time. In this book the contributors discuss cultures at different levels of sophistication and literacy and examine the importance of writing on the development of these societies. All the articles except the first were specially written for this book and the extensive introduction unites and synthesizes the material.
 

Contents

The Consequences of Literacy
25
Implications of Literacy in Traditional China and India
69
Literacy in a Buddhist Village in NorthEast Thailand
85
Literacy in Kerala
132
The Transmission of Islamic Learning in the Western Sudan
161
Restricted Literacy in Northern Ghana
198
the Somali Case
265
Astrology and Writing in Madagascar
277
Uses of Literacy in New Guinea and Melanesia
298
The Measurement of Literacy in PreIndustrial England
310
Bibliography
326
Index
339
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information