WST 483 - Orality, Language & Literacy

Institution:

University of Rochester

Subject:

Description:

We consider issues raised in Walter Ong's '82 study, "Orality & Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word." His account related the growth of writing & print to the development of science & modern rational thought, exploring possible changes in collective consciousness as a result of the shift of media emphasis. We'll examine classical sources, incl Plato's suspicion of the power of oral poetry, & consider levels of literacy achieved in ancient society; we'll look at European medieval traditions. Discussions on the roles language & literature played in the lives of non-literate people as contrasted with literate. Study of the modern & contemporary periods focuses on practices as conversation, becoming literate, collection of oral accounts & their uses, uses of ethnographic writing, & different approaches to speech, writing, & language in African American & white communities. Key aim of the course is to show the politics, mutual dependency, & reciprocity of oral/literate uses of language in literary/nonliterary

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.rochester.edu

Phone Number:

(888) 822-2256

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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