RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK

RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK
2009 Spring series lecture


Galen Brokaw
(University at Buffalo)

"Indigenous American Polygraphy and the Dialogic Model of Media"


Thursday, 9 April
5 p.m.
Alexander Library, Pane Room


Abstract:
Indigenous American societies pose serious problems for traditional
theories of orality, literacy, writing, and semiosis in general. Based on
our understanding-albeit incomplete-of American media, this presentation
attempts to deconstruct the orality-literacy dichotomy that characterizes
anthropological thought (whether it be by anthropologists, historians,
literary critics, or others). Using indigenous American media such as the
Inca and Wari khipu, Moche fine-line painting, and Mesoamerican
iconography as a starting and ending point, it proposes a dialogic model
of literacy and subsequently a dialogic model of media that constitutes a
revision of the traditional anthropological and historical theory relating
to the role of writing/media, its relationship to the development of
socio-economic and political complexity, as well as its cognitive effects.

More about RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK 2009 series and
directions at:
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/book_history/RSHOB_2009.html

For their support for the 2009 lecture series, the Rutgers Seminar in the
History of the Book would like to thank the following programs and units
at Rutgers:

American Studies | Center for Cultural Analysis | Departments of English /
French / Library and Information Science / Spanish & Portuguese | The
Graduate Program in Comparative Literature | Rutgers University Libraries
| School of Communication, Information & Library Studies | The
Transliteratures Project
--
Marija Dalbello, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
SHARP De Long Book Prize Jury
School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
4 Huntington Street
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1071
Voice: 732.932.7500 / 8215
FAX: 732.932.6916
Internet: dalbello@scils.rutgers.edu
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~dalbello